Syed Shahid Hamid

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with the governor of Punjab, Shahid Hamid.

Major General
Syed Shahid Hamid
Personal details
Born
Syed Shahid Hamid

(1910-09-17)17 September 1910
Adjutant-General
(AG)
DG
Military Intelligence
Battles/warsWorld War II
  • Burma Campaign 1941–1942
  • Burma Campaign 1944–1945

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

Awards
Hilal-i-Jurat

Master General of Ordnance (MGO) of the Pakistan Army. He also authored numerous books,[1] most notably Disastrous Twilight - A Personal Record of the Partition of India 1946-1947, an eyewitness account of being on the staff of the last British Commander in Chief of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck.[2]

He was the uncle of the Bombay-born British novelist, Salman Rushdie.

He was the grandfather of the British journalist, Mishal Husain.[3]

Early life

Hamid was born in

Fort Sandeman, and Risalpur. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 30 November 1935 and to Captain on 31 August 1941.[8]

Military career

During the

Calcutta. In 1943, after being declared fit for duty, he became a Senior Instructor at the Command and Staff College in Quetta. Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck appointed Hamid his Private Secretary on 28 March 1946 and Hamid played an influential role in the decision making by Auchinleck.[9] Shahid Hamid was an inside player in the crucial months leading up to the Partition of India
in 1947.

Senior appointments

When

Adjutant-General before retiring in July 1959, writing later: 'After the imposition of Martial Law I felt that I had no place in the army and I could not justify to my conscience my existence in these circumstances.' In a meeting with Ayub Khan at the beginning of 1959 he advised him to send the army back to the barracks. Ayub responded that they had a job to do first. Hamid wrote: 'It was obvious that the 'hawks' had his ear and many had been placed in important assignments, where they were enjoying authority and power and wanted the army to stay on.[10]

In 1978, he was summoned back to public life by

Zia ul-Haq, and served as a federal cabinet minister for three years.[4]

Post-retirement

Shahid Hamid was deeply interested in education, and helped found and became a patron of the Aligarh Old Boys Association and established Sir Syed School and Sir Syed Science College for boys and girls at Tipu Road,

Northern Areas, he helped open up the region for local people and tourists by supporting road projects and writing books and articles in which he described the beauty of the area.[4] For the last 20 years of his life, he wrote and researched books. He wrote one of the early books on Hunza[11] after first visiting in 1954 when the valley was only accessible on horseback or on foot. Other books covered the politics of the Pakistan Movement
, and the Pakistani army, as well as an autobiography.

References

  1. ^ "Major General Shahid Hamid - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  2. ISBN 0-85052-396-6
    .
  3. ^ BBC One News at Six feature on then-Indian Army involvement in World War Two. 2 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Rashid, Ahmed (15 March 1993). "Obituary: Maj-Gen Syed Shahid Hamid". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  5. ^ Indian Army List January 1935
  6. ^ Indian Army List January 1936
  7. ^ Indian Army List April 1940
  8. ^ Indian Army List's for January 1936 and July 1943
  9. ^ April 1947 Army List
  10. ISBN 969-0-10062-9
    .
  11. ^ Hamid, Shahid (1979). Karakuram Hunza. Karachi, Pakistan: Ma-aref Ltd.
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