Naseerullah Babar
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Lieutenant General (retd) Naseerullah Babar (born 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 Inspector General FC. He served as Governor of the North-West Frontier Province 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 Corps, Aviation during the 1965 war against India and in the 1970s he was appointed IG Frontier Corp, he retired as Gen . 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 until 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 confirmed Agnostic, 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. 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 abuse. Many believe he conducted the crackdown on the MQM under pressure from the Taliban and other such groups , because the secular MQM had been a major hindrance for the Taliban in Karachi , especially when 35 Jamaat-e-Islami activists were massacred by MQM activists in Orangi Town in 1992.
[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 Nawaz Sharif's nominee 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.
He recently left Pakistan Peoples Party due to his disagreement with Benazir Bhutto over her support of General Pervez Musharraf. This action is considered as a major blow for the Pakistan Peoples Party because he was their major political leader in the N.W.F.P.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Syed Ghawas |
Governor of the North-West Frontier Province 1 March 1976 - 6 July 1977 |
Succeeded by Abdul Hakeem Khan |
| Preceded by Fateh Khan Bandial |
Interior Minister of Pakistan 21 October 1993 - 5 November 1996 |
Succeeded by Omar Khan Affridi |
