Ali Jan Aurakzai

Lieutenant General Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai (Urdu language: على محمد جا ن ا و ر كزى ), is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Corps Commander of XI Corps and command all the Pakistan Army's assets during the War in North-West Pakistan. As Commander, he oversaw the peaceful deployment of Pakistan Army's XI Corps in the Northern Areas and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

Aurakzai was the leading general in the Pakistan Army who led the Pakistan Combatant Forces in North-West War. He also had oversaw the military development and deployment in the FATA region, as Commander. After retiring from the military, he was the former governor of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, from May 2006 until his resignation in January 2008.^[1]

Military career

Passing out from Pakistan Military Academy with the 38th PMA Long Course, he got commission (second lieutenant) in 1967 in the 14th Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment (Naubara), Pakistan Army. As Lieutenant, Aurakzai had led a Guerrilla company during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. In 1976, as Major, he served as the Forward observer in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In 1983, he served as the Aerial observer and intelligence observer in the Pakistan's western border. He is graduate of Command and Staff College, and was posted in Generals Headquarter (GHQ) in 1985. He served there as an intelligence analyst for the Pakistan Army. Throughout the 1980s, Aurakzai had served as an intelligence and military advisor at The GHQ.

Aurakzai later served as the Commander Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA), Gilgit as a Major-General. In 1998, as Major-General, he was the Vice Chief of General Staff at the GHQ. Court-martial Lieutenant-General Ziauddin Butt held Aurakzai, as he was Vice Chief of Generals Staff, responsible for coup d'état against Former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif.^[2]

In April 1999, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General and shifted as Adjutant-General (AG), Pakistan Army Generals Headquarter (GHQ). On October 2001, he was made "Core-commander" of XI Corps, and served as the Commander of Western Military Command. During his military career, he was the leading and most experience general who served under General Pervez Musharraf Administration. Following the collapse of Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Aurakzai was made the commander of Western Military Command. As commander, he oversaw the extensive military operations led by the United States special operations forces. He responded with deploying hundreds of Mountaineering and Infantry battalions to guard the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

In December 2003, he led the XI Corps, and several supported administrative divisions of XII Corps. He served as the principal commander of the Pakistan's Western Military Command, and had supervised the Pakistan Army's quick deployment in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Under his command, the military saw the action Battle of Wana and, which concluded with Pakistani success. In March 2004, he was given honorable retirement from the Army. He was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Masood Aslam, who became the principle commander of Western Military Command of Pakistan Defence Forces.

Post-Military career

Soon after the conflict, Aurakzai received an honorable discharge from the Army. Soon after his retirement, Prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali appointed him as the Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. According to the BBC, as governor, his assignment was to bring stability and security to the FATA region. To complete this task, he sought many peace deals with the local tribal leaders. However, the deals were violated and the violence began in the FATA region. Soon, a bloody tribal conflict between the Pakistan Armed Forces ended the peace deals. A new War in tribal areas was insued. As the conflict grew momentarily, he resigned as the Governor. He was replaced by Owais Ahmed Ghani, a former Governor of Balochistan Province.

A tribal Pashtun and blong himself to FATA, the appointment of Lt. General retired Ali Jan Aurakzai as new Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a big relief for tribesmen in FATA and a dream come true for them.^[3] The tribal leaders were expressed positive reviews as they had personally knew Aurakzai. Aurakzai sought to end the violence in Khyber and FATA regions. He was one the pioneer and strongly advocated the Waziristan Accord. According to him, it was a breakthrough and if the treaty proved successful, similar treaties would be signed with tribes in other agencies, Governor Aurakzai concluded.^[4]

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