Abdul Waheed Kakar

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In summer of 1993, the MoD announced the names of retiring army generals who were due retirement, and such list included Lt-Gen. Kakar as he was also seeking the retirement.: 572  [15]

Without consulting the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan nominated and approved the appointment papers of junior-most Lt-Gen. Kakar to the promotion of senior four-star rank when elevating him as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).: 146  [16]

An Image of General Abdul Waheed Kakar (Head of Pakistan Army) with Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie (Head of The British Army) in Great Britain. General Abdul Waheed Kakar With Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie.jpg
An Image of General Abdul Waheed Kakar (Head of Pakistan Army) with Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie (Head of The British Army) in Great Britain.

The appointment was extremely controversial due to Lt-Gen. Kakar superseding at least six senior army generals, including:: 77–78  [17] [6]

Among these listed army generals, the CGS, the QMG, and the DG ISI, opted to stay to serve on their assignments despite being overlooked for the promotions. [18]

After his appointment, a member of the National Assembly who belonged to PMPA was quoted: "the era of the Pakhtoons has begun. The president belonged to the Frontier province and so did the new Chief of Army Staff." [6]

Portrait of General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army General Abdul Waheed Kakar Portrait 1.jpg
Portrait of General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army

After assuming the command of the army as its army chief and contrary to the expectations of President Ghulam Ishaq, General Kakar played a decisive role in resolving the constitutional crises by securing first the resignation of President Ghulam Ishaq and later Prime Minister Sharif in 1993.: 303–304  [19] This allowed the holding of the nationwide general elections that witnessed the return of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto, who eventually became the Prime Minister of Pakistan.: 304  [19] During his tenure, General Kakar was instrumental in securing the government funding for the Shaheen project developed under the PAEC's scientists. [20]

General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army In The Field With Tanks On Both Sides General Abdul Waheed Kakar Field Inspection.jpg
General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army In The Field With Tanks On Both Sides

In September 1995, General Abdul Waheed Kakar played a crucial role in sustaining the democracy by having discovered a plot by a group of army officers headed by Major-General Zahirul Islam Abbasi, acting in complicity with the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami a militant group, to assassinate him and Benazir Bhutto, to capture power. [21] This plan was foiled by the Military Intelligence and the Military Police who initiated the operation to have those involved captured and arrested. [21]

In 1996, General Kakar reportedly declined the extension of his service and there was no public statement on the matter. [21] After his retirement, he never appeared in public and lives a very quiet life in Rawalpindi. [21]

Reception

An image of General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army General Abdul Waheed Kakar Salute.jpg
An image of General Abdul Waheed Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army
Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army Riding A Black Stallion General Abdul Waheed Kakar Riding Horse.jpg
Kakar 5th COAS Pak Army Riding A Black Stallion

General Kakar had an imposing and robust personality that brokered no nonsense. : 160  [22] In the military, he was popular among his colleagues as a flamboyant rider and a mountaineer.: 40  [23]

His reception as an army chief was hailed and celebrated by the Pashtuns nationalists when Mahmood Achakzai, then-MNA, reportedly remarked in the news media in 1993: "This is not a General from the Sandhurst colonial brand. I welcome an enlightened man from the rigid mountain ranges of Loralai. He has the professional skills for improving the war performance of the Pakistan Army. But more than that, he is intelligent enough to comprehend politics and will promote the democratic process. General Waheed is not a religious extremist." [6]

Published writer/author Ikram Sehgal mentioned the following in his article for Bol News, "Emulating The Kakar Model": Can the Army itself avoid its prime responsibility to confront any development endangering national security by remaining aloof from politics? The so-called “Bangladesh model” created by the then Bangladesh COAS Gen Moyeenuddin Ahmad on June 11, 2007, was totally modelled on General Waheed Kakar's 1993 model where not one single soldier went into civilian administration. Rescuing the political process from sliding the country into anarchy kept the army out of politics and the civil administration.

In July 1993, the then COAS Pakistan Army General Waheed Kakar calmly and peacefully saw off both the President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif who both were endangering national security by creating conditions that could have led to civil war. Instead of taking over power himself, the then COAS moved the Chairman Senate Waseem Sajjad constitutionally upwards to be the interim President and formed an interim government of capable technocrats, retired bureaucrats and ex-servicemen to successfully govern and oversee free and fair elections.

While the “Kakar Model” went beyond what the 90 days the Constitution allows, no one ever challenged this move, because it was done in good faith. Such was the respect for General Kakar and the Pakistan Army. [24]

Awards and decorations

General
Abdul Waheed Kakar
NI(M)    HI(M)    SBt
Abdul Waheed Kakar.png
5th Chief of Army Staff
In office
8 January 1993 –12 January 1996
Nishan-e-Imtiaz.png Hilal-e-Imtiaz.png Sitara-e-Basalat.png
Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War Ribbon.png Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War.png Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War.png Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War.png
10 years Service Medal.png 20 years Service Medal.png 30 years Service Medal.png Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e-Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam.png
Hijri Tamgha.png Jamhuriat Tamgha 1988.png Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha Pakistan.svg Order of Military Merit (Jordan) - Grand Cordon.png
Nishan-e-Imtiaz

(Military)

(Order of Excellence)

 Hilal-i-Imtiaz

(Military)

(Crescent of Excellence)

 Sitara-e-Basalat

(Star of Valour)

Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War

(War Star 1965)

 Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War

(War Star 1971)

 Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War

(War Medal 1965)

 Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War

(War Medal 1971)

10 Years Service Medal 20 Years Service Medal 30 Years Service Medal Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e-Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam

(100th Birth Anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

1976

Hijri Tamgha

(Hijri Medal)

1979

 Tamgha-e-Jamhuriat

(Democracy Medal)

1988

 Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha

(Resolution Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1990

 Order of Military Merit

Grand Cordon

(Jordan)

Foreign Decorations

Foreign Awards
Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan The Order of Military Merit Order of Military Merit (Jordan) - Grand Cordon.png

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Maleeha Lodhi. Pakistan's encounter with democracy (Vanguard, 1994).
  2. ↑ Cowasjee, Ardeshir (2009-03-01). "Here we go again". Dawn . Retrieved 2022-07-24.
  3. 1 2 Sehgal, Ikram (1993). "Wishing the Chief Well" (googlebooks). Defence Journal. 18 (1–6): 50. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. ↑ Kiessling, Hein (2016). "§The Down Fall of Nawaz Sharif" (googlebooks). Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. London, U.K.: Oxford University Press. p. 310. ISBN   9781849048620 . Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  5. ↑ The foreign policy of Pakistan: ethnic impacts on diplomacy, 1971-1994. By Mehtab Ali Shah.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Iqbal Haidiri. "New COAS" Economic Review January 1993
  7. 1 2 "General A.W. Kakar". Economic Review. 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195476606 . Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 "General's Election". 19. Asiaweek Limited. 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ↑ Excerpts from Defence Journal. 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Excerpts from Economic Review. 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  12. ↑ Defence Journal. 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Changing of the guard". www.sehgalfamily.com. Ikram Sehgal publications. 19 January 1993. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "Raising 16 to 29". The Nation. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  15. ↑ Burki, Shahid Javed (2015). Historical Dictionary of Pakistan. Oxford, U.K.: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 658. ISBN   9781442241480 . Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  16. ↑ Mitra, Subrata Kumar; Enskat, Mike; Spiess, Clemens (2004). "§The Muslim League Under Nawaz Sharif" (googlebooks). Political Parties in South Asia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 369. ISBN   9780275968328 . Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  17. ↑ Cloughley, Brian (2008). "§After Aslam Beg (1991-93)" (googlebooks). War, Coups & Terror: Pakistan's Army in Years of Turmoil . Skyhorse Publishing Inc. pp.  210. ISBN   9781602396982 . Retrieved 19 December 2017.
    • The list including the superseding six senior army generals by seniority:
  18. 1 2 "Superseded generals resign". asianstudies.github.io. No. 4/40. Dawn Newspapers. DAWN WIRE SERVICE. 10 October 1998. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  19. 1 2 Jaffrelot, Christophe (2004). "Chronology" (googlebooks). A History of Pakistan and Its Origins (1st ed.). Anthem Press. p. 300. ISBN   9781843311492 . Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  20. ↑ "General Abdul Waheed". www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Hussain, Zahid (27 January 2016). "The general's retirement". DAWN.COM. Dawn newspapers, 2016. Dawn newspapers. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  22. ↑ Abbas, Hassan (2015). Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror. Routledge. ISBN   9781317463283 . Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  23. ↑ Asiaweek. Asiaweek Limited. 1993.
  24. ↑ "Emulating the "kakar model"" .

Notes

  1. ↑ Urdu: عبدالوحید کاکڑ
Military offices
Preceded by Chief of Army Staff
1993 – 1996		Succeeded by
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