Jehangir Karamat

General Jehangir Karamat, (Urdu: جہانگیر کرامت; born 20 February 1941) NI(M), TBt, afwc, psc, fsc(u), is a retired four-star general and a renowned military scientist who held four-star assignments such as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1997 to 1998, and served as the former Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army from January 1996 to October 1998, and then former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States from November 2004 to June 2006. He is also one of very few Army generals in the military history of Pakistan to have resigned over a disagreement with the civilian authorities.

He attended and graduated from Pakistan Military Academy and served well in 1965 war and the 1971 Winter war with India. After his long active service after which, he held numerous prestigious assignments in the army, he came to national prominence in 1995 when along with Major-General Ali Kuli Khan of Military Intelligence exposed the attempted coup d'état against the government of Prime minister Benazir Bhutto who conferred him with national award. In 1996, he was promoted to four-star rank and became Chief of Army Staff, and later became Chairman of Joint Chiefs in 1997. He played a vital role in enhancing the democratic institutions in Pakistan, and staunchly backed Nawaz Sharif's authorization of atomic testing programme (See Chagai-I and Chagai-II) in 1998. On 6 October 1998, Karamat was forced to resign from his four-star assignments by Prime minister Nawaz Sharif over a disagreement on national security. After his resignation, he became diplomat and served as the military-civil adviser to the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Biography

Early and education

Jehangir Karamat was born 20 February 1941 in Karachi, British Sindh, British Indian Empire to an Urdu-speaking class. After attending a private Christian-operated Saint Patrick's High School and received his high-school diploma, with emphasis on science courses. In 1957, Karamat passed the university entrance exam, and entered Kakul in the same year, and his mother also moved with him in Kakul to overlook his education. In 1961, Karamat gained his B.S. in Military Science after submitting his senior thesis that contained the details of solving problems in civil-military relations. Karamat is the class call of 24th PMA Long Course and stood as top-ranking cadets at Kakul before becoming the part of the Pakistan Army. On August 14th, 1961, Karamat was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant the 13th Lancers cavalry, Armoured Corps— a equivalent of U.S. Army Armored Corps's battalion.

In 1969, Karamat attended the Command and Staff College at Quetta where he gained a diploma in joint services before switching back to his war assigments. After participating in 1971 war, Karamat was accepted at the National Defence University. The same year, Karamat went onto deputationthe attend the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.^[1] In 1976, Karamat completed his M.Sc. in International Relations from there; and following his return, Karamat completed his master's programme at the National Defence University. In 1977, Karamat was awarded M.Sc. in in War studies where his master's thesis on argued and enlightened the military failure of performance of armed forces in 1971 war.

Between wars

In 1963, Karamat promoted as 1st-Lieutenant and took participation in Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, commanding a combined infantry and armoured company in Akhnur Sector, Jammu and Kashmir. His company was the first unit that had penetrated 23 miles into enemy territory, which encouraged back-up companies to move forward into the enemy territory. Overall this war, the 13th Lancers had suffered death of fourteen soldiers, including three officers, while twenty eight were wounded. For this action, the 13th Lancers was awarded the battle honour Dewa— Chumb and Jaurian of 1965 and was also awarded the title of "The Spearhead Regiment".

After the war, Karamat served as first officer at the Armoured Corps headquarters, while acting as instructor at there. In 1966, Karamat was promoted to Captain; and became Major in 1970. Karamat later participated in Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 when he was the Commanding officer of the 15th Armoured Platoon, 13th Lancers. During this time, the 13th Lancers was part of 8th Armoured Brigade that fought in the Shakargarh area of Sialkot Sector, which is now known as Battle of Barapind. And in spite of heavy losses in men and material during counter attack on the enemy bridgehead on 16 December, the 13th Lancers stood firm and in the process forced the enemy to withdraw and yield ground. Around four officers were killed with many went MIA and WIA. The battle remained a success for Indian Army who captured the entire area, and it was not until the successful ratification of Simla Agreement in 1972 that India agreed to transfer the area back to Pakistan's control.

Twenty four personnel were martyred in this action. The regiment was awarded battle honour of Bara Pind 1971. an As Lieutenant, he then served in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 where he commanded a platoon, and as Major, Karamat commanded a Tank company in Indo-Pakistani Winter War of 1971. After the war, Karamat went on to attend premier military institutions for higher education where he specialized in administration and civil-military relations. In 1977, Karamat was situated as Lieutenant-Colonel; and was made Colonel in 1981 where he was made Commanding officer of his own commissioned regiment, the 13th Lancers.

Staff appointments

After completing his advanced studies on military science, Karamat was send to held academic assignments rather than holding a combat assignments. Karamat did not took participation in Soviet war in Afghanistan but was stationed in Lahore, Punjab Province. In 1985, Karamat was promoted to as Brigadier-General, a 1-star rank, and served as the Officer Commanding of 6th Armored Brigade Group. Soon, Karamat was sent to Saudi Arabia when his brigade was sent there. At there, he also served as military adviser to Saudi Army while commanding his brigade and supervised military exercises between two countries throughout his deputation. Following the death of General Zia-ul-Haq in a mysterious aircraft incident, Karamat was called back to his country where he was given another desk assignment. Promoted as Major-General in 1988, Karamat was appointed as Director-General of the Directorate-General of Military Operations (DGMO) by then-Chief of Army Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg; he played a crucial role in advancing the fighting capabilities of the Pakistan Army while he planned numerous military exercise for Pakistan Army. In 1991, Karmat took the command of Army Rangers for a short time. Prior to that, Karamat served as associate military professor at the Armed Forces War College. In 1991, Karamat was promoted to Lieutenant-General, a three-star rank, and was made Core-commander of the II Strike Corps, stationed in Multan. In 1994, Lieutenant-General Karamat was appointed Chief of General Staff (CGS) at the General Army Combatant Headquarters (GHQ).

General Karamat rose to public prominence in 1995, when he exposed the attempted coup d'état against the government of Prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Major-General Ali Kuli Khan, then-Director-General of the Military Intelligence tapped the conservations and tracked down the culprits behind the coup. Lieutenant-General Karamat facilitated the JAG Branches hearings at the specified military courts, and convened many proceedings while the hearings were heard by the military judges of Judge Advocate General Branch. His actions were widely perceived in the country, and for his efforts, General Karamat was conferred with national honors in public conventions and state gatherings.

Chief of Army Staff

Karamat was appointed the Chief of Army Staff by the then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who gave her green signal and authorization to President Farooq Leghari on 18 December 1995 when out going Chief of Army Staff General Abdul Waheed Kakar's three-year term was near expiration. On Prime minister Benazir Bhutto's recommendation, President Leghari promoted Lieutenant-General Karamat to 4-star rank and was was set to Chief of Army Staff when General Kakar was due to retire on 12 January 1996. He was the senior most general at that time, and therefore at promotion to four-star general, he superseded no one.^[2] At the time of his promotion, there were four senior generals in the race to replace Kakar as Chief of Army Staff: Lieutenant-General Jehangir Karamat, chief of general staff (CGS); Lieutenant-General Nasir Akhtar, quarter-master general (QMG); Lieutenant-General Muhammad Tariq, inspector-general training and evaluation (IGT and E) at the GHQ; and Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi, commander XXX Corps, Gujranwala.^[3] As Chief of Army Staff, General Karamat tried to work with the Prime minister and President at once, but soon came to understand that the misconducts of politicians and bureaucrats would eventually led the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's final government.^[4] General Karamat reached to then-Speaker of the National Assembly Yousaf Raza Gillani (now current Prime minister) where he "leaked" an intelligence information and tried convincing Benazir Bhutto and President Leghari to resolve their issues, and emphasis on focused on good governance. At one point, General Karamat wrote:

In my opinion, if we have to repeat of past events then we must understand that Military leaders can pressure only up to a point. Beyond that their own position starts getting undermined because the military is after all is a mirror image of the society from which it is drawn.

—General Jehangir Karamat commenting on Benazir's dismissal, ^[4]

Chairman of Joint Chiefs

General Karamat was appointed for a prestigious 4-star assignment, the chairmanship of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in November 1997 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when the previous chairman Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan's three-year term ended. General Karamat drove Pakistan Armed Forces to focus on more professional duties rather than playing politics. In 1998, Karamat let the decision of county's atomic experiments on Prime minister ad was publicly hailed for backing the democracy in the government..

Dismissal of General Jehangir Karamat

In October 6 1998, Karamat presented the idea of establishing a formal body where armed forces could have presentation in the country's politics. Nawaz Sharif preceived this idea as Chairman Joint Chiefs involvement in politics, therefore Sharif forced to resign Karamat when he criticized Pakistan’s political leadership and advocated a national security council that would give the military a constitutional role in running the country, similar to Turkey's.^[5] He retired as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and as Chief of Army Staff in October 1998.

Academic career

After his retirement, General Karamat became a visiting fellow at CISAC Stanford University, and the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. He was also part of a U.N.-sponsored study on Afghanistan, and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. He has stayed as the Colonel Commandant and Colonel-in-Chief, both ceremonial posts, of the Pakistan Armored Corps. He also stayed as the President of the Pakistan Polo Association.

Ambassador to the United States

General Karamat's name was first mentioned as a replacement for Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi around the end of September 2004, when Mr Qazi was appointed by Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to be his Special Representative to Iraq.

On 23 March 2006, Pakistani media reported that Ambassador Karamat was to be replaced by retired Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani. The reports further stated that it was not clear why Ambassador Karamat, who took his post on a two-year contract, would be returning home after only a year and a half.^[6]

Founding think tank

After ambassadorship, General Jehangir Karamat founded a socio-political policy and analysis institute, Spearhead Research, which focuses on social, economic, military and political issues concerning Pakistan and Afghanistan. General Jehangir Karamat is the director and contributor to the Spearhead Research Institute.

References

External links

• Official profile at Pakistan Army website
• Brookings Institution Profile
• PakistanLink: General Karamat: An Introduction
• Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC.
• Spearhead Research