Category:Hilal-e-Jurat
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The following are people who have received the Hilal-e-Jurat, Pakistan's second highest military leadership award, corresponding to the British DSO ( Distinguished Service Order).
The first 4 recipients of the Hilal-e Jurat(HJ)_were Brigadier Mian Hayaud-Din; Brigadier Mohammad Aslam Khan ( brother of Air Marshal Mohammad Asghar Khan - the first Pakistani to become Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force); Brigadier Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi and Major General Mohammad Ayub Khan.
The first three (3) officers named above were awarded the HJ for valour and distinction in combat, commanding Pakistani troops and volunteers in operations against enemy forces of the Indian Army in Kashmir c. 1948, in conformity with the criteria for the award of an HJ.
Ayub Khan, however, was not serving in Kashmir nor was he involved in any combat with Indian Army forces anywhere at that time. He was the commander of Pakistani troops in East Pakistan ( now Bangladesh ) about 1000 miles away from Kashmir, as General Officer Commanding ( GOC ) of the single Division of the Pakistan Army that formed the garrison there. He was awarded the HJ for dealing with smugglers operating across the border between India and East Pakistan.
(The Secretary of Defence of the Government of Pakistan, Iskandar Mirza, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, was instrumental in Ayub Khan's being awarded the HJ. He was also instrumental in Ayub Khan's promotion to become the first Pakistani Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army and later in also granting Ayub Khan an extension in his first term in that post. Mirza went on to become the 4th British appointed Governor General of Pakistan. On March 23rd, 1957 Pakistan ceased to be a Dominion of Great Britain, becoming The Islamic Republic of Pakistan with Iskandar Mirza as its first President. In October 1958, Mirza declared Martial Law, appointing Ayub Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Within a month Ayub, sent Lieutenant Generals Wajid Ali Burki; Khalid Sheikh and Mohammad Azam Khan to President's House and they packed Mirza off to England in-exile. These 3 Generals were Federal Ministers in Ayub's first cabinet. He went on to rule Pakistan until the nation-wide 1968 riots, following which he chose to retire and handed over power to General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan )
After the 1948 Kashmir war with India, Pakistan did not award any HJ's until 1965, when there were military actions in the Rann of Katch in the spring and the war with India in September.
In 1955 Pakistan Army domestic operations against the Khan of Kalat in Baluchistan were led by Brigadier Tikka Khan, who was subsequently recommended for the HJ.
However, Brigadier Abid Akbar Khan, Deputy Advocate General of the Pakistan Army at the time, opposed the award on the grounds that it would require that Pakistani citizens who were supporters of the Khan of Kalat would have to be categorized as "enemy". Tikka Khan was not awarded the HJ for the 1955 Kalat operations and Brigadier Abid Ali Akbar Khan's military career ended soon thereafter.
