Khalid Mahmud Arif

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

Operation Fair Play

Awards
Sitara-e-Basalat
Legion of Merit[3]
Other workMilitary historian

vice-chief of army staff under President Zia-ul-Haq, who retained the command of the army since 1976.[4][5]

His career in the army was mostly spent in the

administration of President Zia-ul-Haq, and was succeeded by General Mirza Aslam Beg as army chief in March 1987.[7]
: 701 

Upon his retirement in 1987, he authored several books on the political and military history of Pakistan, of which Working With Zia: Pakistan's Power Politics is the best known.

Biography

Khalid Mahmud Arif was born on 29 December 1930 in a

Edwardes College in Peshawar and graduated in 1947.[10]

After passing the

staff course degree from the Command and Staff College in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan.[11]
: 160–161 

War appointments and in East Pakistan

In 1965, Arif, as a

Kashmir.[6]: 132  Arif commanded an American M48 tank against the Indian Army.[14]
: 42 

After the war, he was sent back to the

East Pakistan Rifles).[15]
: 19–22 

In 1967, he greatly aided towards

Governor Vice Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan in 1969.[15]: 23–25  During this stint, Arif reportedly relied a secretive message in his complied report in regards to the situation in East that ultimately warned off the consequences of the civil war.[16]: 57–120  In March 1971, he witnessed the meeting with President Yahya Khan who decided the launch of the military operations against the rebels in the East should take place. Arif took over the situation himself to control the law and order.[17]
: 144–146 

About this meeting, Arif described the meeting as: President Yahya took matters in his hands, thus good bye to civil bureaucracy.

Indian military in 1971.[11]
: 87–90 

Command and staff appointments

His efforts and actions in the

Lieutenant-Colonel.[11]: 95–96  He testified in the War Enquiry Commission led by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, giving accounts of military intelligence failures took place in East.[11]
: 96 

In 1976, he was promoted as

111th Brigade stationed in Islamabad; this command appointment lasted only eight months.[11]
: 154–156 

The

coup d'état had already took place.[18]: 3–4 [self-published source
]

After receiving orders from

Director-General of Military Intelligence (DGMI).[6]

In a views of Lieutenant-General Chishti who noted: "General Zia was lucky to have Major-General Arif as his life long confidante. He had experience as a Martial Law Officer during General's Yahya's regime and handled matters efficiently."[19]

In 1979, he helped and aided in preparing a national security strategy against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, after a meeting with President Zia-ul-Haq upon the latter's request.[20]

Vice Chief of Army Staff (1984–87)

A quintessential staff officer, Major-General Arif's career accelerated and gained reputation as an effective commander in the military intelligence.

subcritical testing of an atomic device that took place in a hidden weapons-testing sites.[22]
: 251–252 

Despite never effectively commanding the field assignments, he was named and appointed as

Vice-Chief of Army Staff under President Zia.[21]

To many observers, this promotion, in fact, made General Arif the chief of army staff of the Pakistan Army with the entire commanding staff reporting to him.[21]

As an

relationship between two nations."[24]: 169–170  In 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) placed a mole near the Kahuta Research Laboratories but was thwarted by the ISI, which according to General Arif, the ISI took the mole to its secret museum to train its own spies in espionage operations.[23] He was described as a very uptight and strict army officer by civilian scientists, specifically dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan in his memoirs, did not compromise on his morals and disciplines throughout his career.[23]

In 1984, General Arif's tenure also saw the commissioning of the Bell AH-1 Cobra Attack helicopters in the aviation corps.[25]

In 1986–87, he deployed and rotated the V Corps, with support from the Southern Air Command to deter the Indian Army's major military exercise that took place near Pakistan's border under supervision of General Sundarji, then-army chief of Indian Army.[26]: 157  During this time, he refuted the claims made by dr. A.Q. Khan and immediately issued directives towards the policy of deliberate ambiguity over the clandestine atomic bomb programme.[27]: 151 

Post retirement

In 1987, General Arif sought retirement from his military service and did not seek extension and handed over the army command to

Lieutenant-General Mirza Aslam Beg who was promoted to the four-star rank and as an army chief.[7]
: 701 

Upon retiring, he focused towards poetry and became a military historian when he authored the notable eyewitnessed and famed text on the military interference led General Zia-ul-Haq, Working with Zia, published in 1995.[28] In 2001, he published Khaki Shadows: Pakistan 1947–1997, about the politics, government, and armed forces of Pakistan during and shortly after the Cold War.[citation needed]

In 2010, he authored another book, Estranged Neighbours: India, Pakistan (1947-2010) on the foreign relations of India and Pakistan.[29] Gen (Retd) K M Arif died on 6 March 2020 in ICU CMH Lahore due to Kidney disease.[citation needed]

Awards and decorations

Nishan-e-Imtiaz

(Military)

(Order of Excellence)

Hilal-e-Imtiaz

(Military)

(Crescent of Excellence)

Sitara-e-Imtiaz

(Military)

(Star of Excellence)

Sitara-e-Basalat

(Star of Good Conduct)

Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War

(War Star 1965)

Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War

(War Star 1971)

Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War

(War Medal 1965)

Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War

(War Medal 1971)

Pakistan Tamgha

(Pakistan Medal)

1947

Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e-

Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam

(100th Birth Anniversary of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

1976

Tamgha-e-Jamhuria

(Republic Commemoration Medal)

1956

Hijri Tamgha

(Hijri Medal)

1979

The Legion of Merit[30]

(Degree of Commander)

(USA)

Foreign decorations

Foreign Awards
 USA The Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander)[30]

Works

  • Arif, Khalid Mahmud (1995). Working with Zia: Pakistan Power Politics, 1977-1988. Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 978-0-19-577570-9
    .
  • —— (2001). Khaki Shadows: Pakistan 1947–1997. Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 978-0-19-579396-3
    .
  • —— (2010). Estranged Neighbours: India, Pakistan, 1947-2010. Islamabad: Dost Publications.
    ISBN 978-969-496-382-2.[31]

References

  1. ^ "The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal". 1986.
  2. ^ a b "Gen KM Arif passes away". The News International (Pakistan). Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). armypubs.army.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Gen Khalid Mehmood Arif". www.pakarmymuseum.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Khalid Mahmud Arif". Goodreads. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87003-223-3
    .
  7. ^ a b IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 1987. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  8. ^ Sheikh, Majid (22 October 2017). "The history of Lahore's Kakayzais". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  9. JSTOR 2644708
    .
  10. ^ Jafri, PA, Col. (retd.) Riaz. "Author/columnist details". Paktribune. Colonel (retd) Riaz Jafri. Pak Tribune. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  11. ^
    ISBN 9780195793963
    . Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  12. ^ IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 1985. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  13. ISBN 978-0-253-22032-5
    .
  14. ^ Sehgal, Ikram ul-Majeed (2005). Defence Journal. Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  15. ^
    ISBN 9780195775709
    .
  16. ISBN 978-0195775709
    .
  17. ^
    ISBN 9788178352633
    . Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  18. ISBN 9781481791137
    . Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  19. ^ Shahid Javed Burki. "Pakistan: Fifty Years of Nationhood (Westview Publishers, 1999)"[permanent dead link]
  20. ISBN 978-0-7546-4220-6
    .
  21. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7656-1496-4
    .
  22. ISBN 9788170622871
    . Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  23. ^ a b c History Commons. "Profile: Khalid Mahmud Arif". History Commons. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  24. ISBN 9781411622289
    . Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  25. ^ Daily Report: South Asia. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 1985. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  26. ISBN 9780262522090
    . Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  27. ISBN 9789694073163
    .
  28. ISBN 978-0195775709
    .
  29. ISBN 978-969-496-382-2
    . Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  30. ^ a b https://web.archive.org/web/20150905084357/http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/go8527.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. ^ "Non-Fiction: General knowledge". 19 September 2010.
Military offices
Preceded by
Vice Chief of Army Staff

1984 – 1987 		Succeeded by
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