Naseerullah Babar
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Major General Naseerullah Babar ( b. 1928 ) was born in Peshawar, Pakistan. His family is from the Babar tribe of Pashtuns and hails from the village of Pirpai district Nowshera. Babar is a former Pakistan army general and former Insprector General FC. He served as Governor NWFP briefly under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government as well as interior minister during Benazir Bhutto's second government from 1993-1996.
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[edit] Early education
His early education was from Presentation Convent School Peshawar between 1935 to 1939. From 1939 to 1941 he attended Burn Hall school then located at Baramula and Srinagar (the school was subsequently shifted to Abbottabad after partition).
[edit] Army Career (1948-1976)
In his long career in the Army Babar served in the artillery Corp, Aviation during the 1965 war against India and in the 1970's he was appointed IG Frontier Corp, he retired as major General in 1976. During the 1965 war with India, Babar single handedly captured an entire Indian company of soldiers (over 70 POWs) and was awarded Sitara-e-Jurat for this action. In the 1971 war, he commanded an artillery brigade in support of 23 Division and later commanded an infantry division till he was wounded and evacuated from the battlefield. He also has the distinction of being awarded SJ & Bar.
[edit] Joining the PPP
After his command of the Operation in Baluchistan he was appointed Governor of NWFP because of his close association with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He contested the 1977 election on a Pakistan Peoples Party ticket from his home district of Nowshera. After the imposition of Martial Law he famously threw away his Hilal i Jurat (with bar) and other army medals at the presiding officer of a military tribunal, when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
[edit] Interior Minister 1993-1996
In 1988 he was Special Assistant to Benazir Bhutto.
Elected in the 1993 general election on a People's Party Ticket from Nowshera he defeated Awami National Party President Ajmal Khattak, with the PPP's victory in the election he was appointed Federal Minister for the Interior by Benazir Bhutto.
It is believed that General Naseerullah Babar was one of the major proponents of backing what eventually became the Taliban. This support was not driven by any religious feelings since General Babar was a secular man, but by a desire to influence the future of Afghanistan, and to provide some stability on Pakistan's Western border.
General Babar was also involved in a crackdown on some die-hard activists of the MQM who were involved in terrorism. This operation was successful due to its specific goals, and brought relative peace in Karachi. He faced considerable criticism for the paramilitary forces involvement in human rights abuses.
[edit] 1997 and onwards
After the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's second government by Farooq Leghari, Babar contested the 1997 elections again from Nowshera as well as Karachi. He was defeated in Nowshera by ANP candidate Wali Muhammad Khan and from Karachi by Muslim League candidate Ejaz Shafi.
Contesting again in the 2002 general elections he was again defeated in the electoral sweep of the religo-political alliance the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.
[edit] External links
- Remembering our Warriors: Babar “the great”. (April 2001) Defence Journal. Available online at [1]
- THE MOHAJIR QAUMI MOVEMENT (MQM) IN KARACHI JANUARY 1995-APRIL 1996 at [2]
