Aziz Khan

Muhammad Aziz Khan ( ; 1 January 1947), better known as Aziz Khan, is a retired Pakistani four-star rank army general who served as the 11th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, appointed in October 2001 until his retirement in 2005.

Before surprisingly superseding several military officers for the appointment as the Chairman joint chiefs in 2001,

Biography

Muhammad Aziz Khan was born in Pallandri, Sudhanoti, in British India now Azad Kashmir, Pakistan) on 1 January 1947 to a Sudhan family. He first graduating from the High School Palandri, before joining the Pakistan Army in 1964. He went to command an infantry platoon during the third war with India in 1971, and was later sent to attend the Command and Staff College where he qualified as a psc. He later went to attend the National Defence University where he graduated with MSc in War studies. He was later posted as military attaché at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington D.C. for the United States Army to maintain military relations with the U.S. military.

In 1990, Brigadier Aziz was posted as the Chief of Staff of the X Corps which was under Lt. Gen. G.M. Malik before being stationed in Siachen to command the Northern Light Infantry (NLI).

War and Command appointments in the military Chief of General Staff and Kargil war with India

In October 1998, Lt. Gen. Aziz was moved to the Army GHQ where he was appointed as the Chief of General Staff, a second-in-command post under the Chief of Army Staff. Himself a Kashmiri, Gen. Aziz was fully committed to the Kashmir cause, he began implementing the plan for covert infiltration in Indian-administered Kashmir, with the approval of the Chief of Army Staff.

Later investigative reports compiled by Pakistani historians and journalists, it was revealed that Lt. Gen. Aziz was the leading general who was masterminding the area contingency operations of the Northern Command led by its GOC Maj-Gen. Javed Hassan. Despite being well aware of the consequences, the writers critically questioned Lt. Gen. Aziz's grand strategy that brought the two nations at the brink of war, with international opinion widely accepting the Indian narrative. When the conversations were leaked by the India's Union Ministry of Defence, Prime Minister Sharif met with Lt. Gen. Aziz who continuously denied the authenticity of the tapes, later confided to Chairman joint chiefs Musharraf that the success of operation relied on "total secrecy".

After the Kargil incident, there were no official military inquiries into this incident nor there were any subsequent evidence that led to the punishment of those responsible for such incidents.

On 12 October 1999, Lt. Gen. Aziz played a decisive role in initiating the military takeover of the civilian government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when he refused to transfer the control of the military to General Ziauddin Butt. Passing orders to take over the control of the Jinnah Terminal in Karachi, Lt. Gen. Aziz effectively gained control of the military in favor of the Gen. Pervez Musharraf who removed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his administration.

Chairman Joint chiefs

Chairman joint chiefs Gen. Aziz meeting with American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to hold discussions on military logistics in the War in Afghanistan in 2001.

This promotion was one of the earliest controversial decisions made by the Musharraf administration, where news media had been very critical of this appointment. –Vice-Chief of Army Staff at Army GHQ in Rawalpindi Lt-Gen. Hamid Javaid

Upon appointed, Gen. Aziz called on President Musharraf, thanking the president for the promotion. Despite his initial support for Gen. Musharraf, Aziz Khan soon regretted playing his part in bringing to help stabilize Gen. Pervez Musharraf's role against the civilian government when he lectured and quoted: "politics should not be done in uniform."

In 2001, Gen. Aziz publicly came out against President Pervez Musharraf's policy on siding with the United States, without effectively addressing the issue of containing the terrorists organizations. He viewed the American attack on Afghanistan with great suspicion, and had held sympathetic views towards the Talibans in Afghanistan, and harboured strong anti-American views when he termed the Americans as "number one enemy".

In a response to the terrorist attack on Indian parliament in 2001, Gen. Aziz oversaw the troop deployment across the border amid the military standoff, and supportive towards the Chinese mediation between the relations of two countries.

In 2003, Gen. Aziz went to visit Sri Lanka where he met with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga where he agreed to provide military assistance to Sri Lanka to their civil war. In 2005, Gen. Aziz's timely retirement was confirmed by President Musharraf and disassociate himself with Aziz with further political appointments despite rumors. Gen. Aziz was succeeded by Gen. Ehsan ul Haq, amid another controversial appointment in 2004.

Awards and decorations

Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Order of Excellence)Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Crescent of Excellence)Sitara-e-Basalat (Star of Good Conduct)Tamgha-e-Basalat

(Medal of Good Conduct)Tamgha-e-Diffa (General Service Medal)

Siachen Glacier ClaspTamgha-e-Jang 1965 War (War Medal 1965)Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War (War Medal 1971)Tamgha-e-Baqa (Nuclear Test Medal)

1998Tamgha-e-Istaqlal Pakistan (Escalation with India Medal)

Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam

(100th Birth Anniversary of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

1976Hijri Tamgha (Hijri Medal)

1979Jamhuriat Tamgha (Democracy Medal)

1988Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha (Resolution Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1990Tamgha-e-Salgirah Pakistan (Independence Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1997Command and Staff CollegeQuetta

Instructor's MedalThe Order of Military Merit(Grand Cordon)

(Jordan)

Foreign decorations Foreign AwardsThe Order of Military Merit (Grand Cordon)