Rahimuddin Khan

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Rahimuddin Khan
رحیم الدین خان
200px
7th Governor of Balochistan
In office
18 September, 1978 – 22 March, 1984
Preceded by Khuda Buksh Marri
Succeeded by Sardar F. S. Khan Lodi
16th Governor of Sindh
In office
24 June, 1988 – 11 September, 1988
Preceded by Ashraf W. Tabani
Succeeded by Qadeeruddin Ahmed
Personal details
Born (1924-07-21) 21 July 1924 (age 99)
Qaimganj, United Provinces, British India (now India)[1]
Alma mater Jamia Millia Islamia
Command and General Staff College
Religion Islam
Awards Star of Good Conduct Sitara-e-Basalat.png Sitara-e-Basalat
Crescent of Excellence Hilal-e-Imtiaz.png Hilal-i-Imtiaz (military)
Order of Excellence Nishan-e-Imtiaz.png Nishan-e-Imtiaz (military)
Military service
Allegiance Pakistan Pakistan
Service/branch  Pakistan Army
Years of service 1950 – 1988
Rank OF-9 Pakistan Army.svg General
Unit Baloch Regiment
Commands 111 Brigade, Rawalpindi
II Corps, Multan
Ras Koh nuclear test sites
8th Army Infantry Division
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Battles/wars Lahore riots of 1953
Indo-Pakistani war of 1971
Balochistan conflict
Soviet war in Afghanistan

Rahimuddin Khan (Urdu: رحیم الدین خان‎; born 21 July, 1924) is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1984 to 1987, and previously as the 7th Governor of Balochistan from 1978 to 1984. He also served as the 16th Governor of Sindh in 1988.

As Balochistan's longest-serving governor, Rahimuddin ended the 1973 operation in Balochistan, declaring a general amnesty and military withdrawal in 1978.[2] His tenure saw widespread economic development and the halting of the Baloch insurgency,[3][4] but was controversial for suppressing the Afghan mujahideen entering the province during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Military service

Rahimuddin Khan was born in Qaimganj, United Provinces, India, in the majority Afridi Pashtun community that migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was the nephew of educationist Zakir Hussain, later the President of India, and the son-in-law of educationist Mahmud Hussain. He attended Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi, founded by Zakir Hussain. He opted for Pakistan during independence in 1947, enrolled as Gentleman Cadet-1 of the Pakistan Military Academy.[5] As captain, he helped enforce martial law in Lahore during the 1953 Lahore riots.

He attended Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Command and Staff College in Quetta. He was hospitalized months before the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 with a broken ankle. In 1969, he was appointed sub-martial law administrator to Hyderabad. He was Chief Instructor at the Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence College, Rawalpindi until 1975. According to Bhutto aide Maulana Kausar Niazi, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wanted Rahimuddin to head the new Atomic Energy Commission and nuclear programme, but was declined.[6][7] As Lieutenant-General, he became Commander II Corps in Multan in 1976.[8] He was made Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1984. He retired in 1987.

Judge of Mujibur Rahman's trial

In February 1971, Yahya Khan took Brigadier Rahimuddin off his 111 Brigade charge in Rawalpindi to preside over the military tribunal of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Faisalabad. According to Shuja Nawaz, Rahimuddin was reportedly uncomfortable conducting the trial.[9] He left mid-proceedings to command the brigade during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, but was recalled again by Yahya to award a verdict. Major General Iftikhar Janjua instead charged Naseerullah Babar with 111 Brigade. Following appeals from several officials in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, Yahya put Rahimuddin's unconfirmed sentence in abeyance.[10] Yahya's successor Bhutto rescinded the verdict. The court proceedings were never made public.

Governor of Balochistan

A military operation against separatists was commenced in Balochistan by Prime Minister Bhutto in 1973, claiming thousands of lives.[11] Rahimuddin was appointed Governor of Balochistan on September 16, 1978. He declared an end to the operation, and announced a general amnesty for fighters willing to give up arms. Army withdrawal was completed by 1979. The Baloch separatist movement came to a standstill.[12][13] Under Rahimuddin, Foreign Policy Centre held that "the province's tribal sardars were taken out of the pale of politics for the first time."[14] He was known for clean reputation during corrupt regimes.[15]

Development

Rahimuddin opened the Sui gas field to provide gas directly to Quetta and other Baloch towns for the first time. Electricity expansion from Quetta to Loralai converted vast areas with sub-soil water into fertile ones.[16] He also consolidated the then-contentious integration of Gwadar into Balochistan, notified as a district in 1977. Despite opposition from finance minister Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Rahimuddin heavily promoted large-scale manufacturing and investment in infrastructure, leading to provincial GDP growth rising to the highest in Balochistan's history.[17] Addressing the province's literacy rate, the lowest in the country,[18] he administered the freeing up of resources towards education, created girls' incentive programs, and had several girls' schools built in Dera Bugti District. He also oversaw the construction of nuclear test sites in Chaghai where tests were conducted in 1998.

Containment of Afghan refugees

During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Zia regime began aiding the anti-communist Afghan mujahideen. Millions of Afghan refugees, believed to be the largest refugee population in the world,[19] crossed over the border into Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[20] Under Zia and General Fazle Haq in KP, heroin and weaponry freely entered with the mujahideen.[21][22] In Balochistan however, Rahimuddin Khan detained the mujahideen in barbed wire military camps and seized their arms. Several fighters were allegedly transported back into Afghanistan by force, criticized by Pakistani human rights agencies. He also restricted refugees to civilian encampments during the war.[23] Pakistan's Balochistan policy became highly unpopular in the eyes of Afghans, but drugs and weapons remained low in the province, becoming widespread in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[24]

Al-Zulfikar hijacking

In March 1981, the Al-Zulfikar terrorist organization led by Murtaza Bhutto hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines airplane from Karachi to Kabul.[25] The hijackers threatened to murder hostages if state authorities did not release specific political prisoners. Upon the authorities' refusal, Al-Zulfikar shot and killed passenger Captain Tariq Rahim, mistakenly believed to be the son of General Rahimuddin Khan.[15][26] The decision to kill Rahim was taken after Murtaza Bhutto consulted KHAD chief Mohammad Najibullah.[27][28] Tariq Rahim had actually been a former aide-de-camp to the elder Bhutto.[29] The episode was ended when Zia-ul-Haq released the prisoners.

Governor of Sindh and retirement

Zia dismissed his own government in May 1988. Rahimuddin became civilian Governor of Sindh, and governor's rule was imposed citing emergency.[30] Claiming corruption, Rahimuddin began dismissing large numbers of police and civil servants, including Z.A. Nizami from the Karachi Development Authority.[31][32] Rahimuddin also launched a brutal police crackdown on land mafia, one of the widest ever in Karachi, criticized by both PPP and the Zia regime for its heavyhanded tactics. It was stopped by the government immediately after he resigned. He moved to create separate police forces for the city and the rural areas, but this was also resisted after his resignation for fears of complicating the Sindhi-Muhajir relationship.[33] Special riot control officers were trained to cope with ethnic riots, and river and forest police were also set up to battle dacoity.[34] Ghulam Ishaq Khan became acting President after Zia's death in an aircrash on 17 August, and reintroduced the Chief Minister of Sindh office. Rahimuddin resigned in response, some say as this was attempt to limit his gubernatorial powers.[35] Post-retirement, he projected his chiefs of staff Asif Nawaz and Waheed Kakar for army chief.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hindus Contribution Towards Making Of Pakistan 22 May 2010 Retrieved 28 January 2011
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ "Tribal Politics in Balochistan 1947-1990" Conclusion (1990) p.6
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Maulana Kausar Niazi The Last Days of Premier Bhutto p.60
  7. ↑ Maulana Kausar Niazi The Last Days of Premier Bhutto p.61
  8. ↑ Arif, Working with Zia, (1995), p.311
  9. ↑ Shuja Nawaz (2007) "Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army and the Wars Within"
  10. ↑ Matinuddin, Kamal Matinuddin (1994) "Tragedy of Errors: East Pakistan Crisis 1968-1971"
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Foreign Policy Centre, "On the Margins of History", (2008), p.36
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Foreign Policy Centre "On the Margins of History" p. 30
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "PIA" defined multiple times with different content
  16. ↑ "Tribal Politics in Balochistan 1947-1990" Conclusion (1990) p.8
  17. ↑ World Bank - Balochistan Economic Report 2009
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Amnesty International file on Afghanistan URL Accessed March 22, 2006
  20. ↑ The Afghan War Settlement
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Kepel, Jihad, (2002), p.143-4
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 9/11 START| Terrorist Organization Profile: Al-Zulfikar Archived June 6, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ↑ Anwar, The Terrorist Prince, (1997), p.121
  27. ↑ Anwar, The Terrorist Prince, (1997), p.106
  28. ↑ Anwar, The Terrorist Prince, (1997), p.123
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ "The Far East and Central Asia" (2003) Regional Surveys of the World p. 1166
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Political offices
Preceded by
Justice Khuda Bakhsh Marri
 Governor of Balochistan
1978–1984		 Succeeded by
Lt. Gen. Sardar F.S. Khan Lodi
Preceded by Governor of Sindh
1988		 Succeeded by
Qadeeruddin Ahmed
Military offices
Preceded by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
1984–1987		 Succeeded by
Gen. Akhtar Abdur Rahman
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