The Pakistan Army adheres to healthy traditions of personnel management, predictably in respect of its officer corps, the lynchpin of military engagement. Right from the beginning it rewards all its ranks, particularly trainee cadets at its premier officer training outfit, the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul. The Sword of Honour is the highest award given to the best performing cadet at the graduation ceremony when they are commissioned into regular ranks. In Pakistan where there is an acute paucity of records highlighting career trajectories of professionals in all significant fields of activity, the army career progression is frequently recorded and quite a good deal of it is publicly accessible.
Using the sword as a symbol of distinction is not new as the Holy Prophet (PBUH) gave his own sword, Zulfiqar, to Hazrat Ali (RA) in the battle of Uhud, dignifying it as a Sword of Honour. Evoking honour in humans to motivate them to go to any extent in performing tasks has been an age-long practice that was exploited by monarchies as well as republics.
Winning the Sword of Honour is the dream of every cadet training at PMA Kakul. Since 1948 the sword has been awarded 136 times to 133 PMA Long Courses, IMA/PMA Course and two graduate courses. The sword for IMA (Indian Military Academy)/PMA Long Course, the first course graduating, was presented in 1948 by Khwaja Nazimuddin, second governor-general, to Battalion Senior Under Officer Sadiq ur Rashid Muhammad Abbasi—hailing from the ruling Daudputra nawabs of Bahawalpur state—who as lieutenant general, became the second longest serving Governor of Sindh. (He was reportedly furious about his retirement despite serving an extended period of two years and accused Gen Zia of backtracking from an earlier promise of promoting him to four stars and appointing him as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee!)
Maj Raja Aziz Bhatti of 1 PMA Course (1950) won the sword, joined 17 Punjab regiment, was martyred in the 1965 war and was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider posthumously. The PMA recently named one training company (Aziz Bhatti) after him. Lt Gen KK Afridi became the first Piffer (Frontier Force Regiment) to win it in 4 PMA Course in 1951 and he later became the Governor of Balochistan. The sword winner in 6 PMA Course was Abdul Qayyum, the first East Pakistani, who resigned his commission, became an additional secretary to the government and preferred to stay in Pakistan after 1971 although his brother was killed in military action in Dacca University in March 1971. Umar Khan Afridi got it in 9 PMA Course and retired as federal secretary. Maj Gen Khurshid Ali Khan earned it in 11 PMA Course and later became ambassador to Portugal and subsequently served as governor of NWFP.
An interesting case is of Captain Usman Ali G. Isani who won the sword in 13 PMA Course in 1956, left the army, joined the civil service, retiring as a high-ranking civil servant but never giving up his erstwhile army title of captain (à la Iskander Mirza). He remained Chief Secretary Sindh, Secretary to PM Junejo and chairman of the HEC. Arshad Fareed attained it in 14 PMA Course, left the army and died in a road accident while serving as Commissioner Swat. The one and only Christian officer, Esmond D’Cunha, received the sword in 16 PMA Course but left the army and migrated to Canada. Maj Gen Abdus Sami got it in 22 PMA Course, was Vice Chief of General Staff when he accompanied Gen Zia to Bahawalpur and was killed with him in the air crash. The nemesis of Pakistan Administrative Service (former DMG) Tanvir Naqvi won it in 23 PMA Course and retired as lieutenant general but was reactivated by Musharraf to carry out administrative reforms.
Maj Gen Mahmud Ali Durrani was its recipient in 24 PMA Course and was a course mate of former COAS Gen Jahangir Karamat. A fellow armoured corps officer (25 Cavalry), he also served as Military Secretary to Gen Zia and was suspected by the then US Ambassador to India John Gunther Dean as ‘extraordinarily insistent’ with Zia to visit Bahawalpur to inspect the performance of the US-manufactured Abram battle tank offered to be sold to Pakistan. He later became ambassador to the US, and on the behest of President Zardari, was appointed National Security Adviser in the cabinet of Yusuf Raza Gilani who unceremoniously sacked him for not taking him into confidence before confirming the nationality of Ajmal Kasab, involved in the Mumbai terrorist incident. Best Pregnancy Pillows for Side Sleepers. Need a pregnancy body pillow you can snuggle while lying on your side? Meet the Snoogle pregnancy pillow. Its hook shape supports your back while one end goes under your head (giving you ample extra length to snuggle) and the other end tucks between your legs - best pregnancy pillow can help to alleviate this discomfort and help you achieve that good night’s sleep your body so desperately needs. Find pregnancy pillows that will improve your sleep in this list reviewed by a board-certified OB-GYN.
The sword was won by Maj Shabbir Sharif, Nishan-e-Haider, older brother of former COAS Gen Raheel Sharif, in 29 PMA Course. He joined 6 FF (Gen Pervez Musharraf was his course mate and so was Lt Gen Ali Quli Khan, brother-in-law of Gohar Ayub Khan, whom PM Nawaz Sharif superseded in favour of the former). The PMA has dedicated one of its training companies to him. The winner in 31 PMA Course was Azhar-ul-Islam, brother of Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, formerly the head of the ISI, who retired as a major and settled in the US.
In recent times the sword was won three times in a row by three officers of 40, 41 and 42 PMA Courses who all reached the three-star rank: Tariq Waseem Ghazi worked as Corps Commander Karachi and was appointed Secretary of Defence after retirement, Syed Perwez Shahid (a Petarian whom President Zardari, himself from Cadet College Petaro, made chairman of the Zulfikarabad Authority but left without accomplishing anything) and Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who served as DG Strategic Plans Division, controlling the authority of nuclear assets, for 13 years!
Lt Gen Syed Shahid Aziz, who castigated Gen Musharraf in his book despite being his Chief of General Staff and the chairman of NAB, won the sword in 44 PMA Course. Capt (ret’d) Khurram Nawaz Gandapur won this award in 47 PMA Course and joined 14 Punjab Regiment but left it and is now secretary-general of Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek. The son of former COAS, Gen Tikka Khan, Tariq Mehmood Khan, got it in 48 PMA Course, took retirement as a major and settled in the US.
Armoured Corps officer Lt Gen Tariq Khan also won it in 55 PMA Course but, despite being acclaimed as a battle-hardened commander and strong contender for the top slot, he lost the race to Gen Raheel Sharif. Former Corps Commander Lahore Lt Gen Naveed Zaman won it in 61 PMA Course and Maj Gen Isfandiyar Pataudi in 63 PMA Course. His father Maj Gen Sher Ali Khan belonged to the princely house of Pataudi and is closely related to Indian film superstar Saif Ali Khan.
Despite being recipients of the most coveted distinction at the onset of their service, the sword winners have been found wanting in meeting the high standards expected of them during their careers. Out of 16 Chiefs, barring two British officers, surprisingly no one won the sword of honour! Officers from 83 of the 136 courses passed out to date have reached two-star and three-star ranks (major general and lieutenant general) and the remaining belonging to 53 courses are in junior ranks. From among the 83 courses, 16 swords winners reached the three-star rank, less than 20 percent of the lot, underlining that winning the highest training award is no guarantee to reaching the top. Sixteen swords holders reached the rank of major general, proving almost the same percentage of success as three-star generals. Out of two four-star and 28 three-star generals currently forming the top layer of the army general staff, only two are swords of honour holders: Lt Gen Javed Mahmood Bukhari (Engrs) of 69 PMA serving as Quartermaster General in GHQ and Lt Gen Azhar Saleh Abbasi (AC) of 74 PMA, Commandant I Corps in Mangla, the primary strike corps of the army, the other being II Corps garrisoned in Multan.
The allocation of arms (infantry, artillery, armoured corps and engineers) to sword winners sees the Frontier Force Regiment scooping up 27 winners into its ranks on being commissioned, followed by the Armoured Corps with 23 assignees, Artillery getting 21 officers, Punjab and Baloch Regiments absorbing 20 officers each, Engineers attracting 16 officers and Sind Regiment 2. No sword winner joined the network of service arms that includes the competent and vital EME, Signals, ASC, and Ordnance etc.
Fourteen officers winning this coveted prize are sons of former army officers and one Maj (r) Jawad Khan of 78 PMA Course was commissioned in 7 FF, the unit both his father and grandfather belonged to! PMA Courses from 57 PMA (April 1978) to 77 PMA (March 1988) are known as Zia Bharti that reached top positions after the retirement of Gens Rashad Mahmood and Raheel Sharif. The current COAS is from 62 PMA Course commissioned in October 1980 in 16 Baloch. His course mate who won the sword was Brigadier Farhat Sabir commissioned in 1 SP Medium Regiment of Artillery but who died in a Fokker crash near Multan in 2006. A whopping 37 sword winners acquired their early education from Military College Jhelum, an institution formed in 1925.
Seven swords of honour recipients embraced martyrdom while fighting for the country: Maj Aziz Bhatti (Punjab) in 1965; Lt Naeem Akhtar (Punjab) in 1965; Maj Adib Anwar Khan (FF) in 1971; Maj Shabbir Sharif (FF) in 1971 and Capt Javed Akhtar (Baloch) in Siachen. In recent times Capt Mearaj Muhammad (AC) of 112 PMA Course sacrificed his life fighting terrorists in action in Buner in 2009. Capt Asfandyar Ahmed Bukhari (FF) of 118 PMA Course embraced martyrdom in 2015 while fighting terrorists who attacked Badaber Air Force base.
In Pakistan where the civilian segment of governance structure would give an arm and a leg to be close to the uniformed part, being invited as guest of honour to the annual PMA passing-out parade is considered a privilege that is not very frequently accorded to them. Governor General Khwaja Nazimuddin was invited as guest of honour in 1948 followed by PM Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950. Khwaja Nazimuddin as PM was invited twice more in 1951 and 1953 and PM Suhrwardy in 1957 but FM Ayub Khan gradually reduced the practice and invited Army, Air Force and Navy Chiefs to preside over the parades and even deputed Commandant PMA Brig Sultan Khan to do it twice in 1965. This practice was followed until 1973 when Bhutto was invited to present it to 9 Graduate Course and twice more in 1975 and 1976 and on the later occasion he went wearing a Mao cap! President Fazal Ellahi Chaudhry was invited to present it twice, Junejo once, Ghulam Ishaq Khan twice, Nawaz Sharif thrice, Benazir Bhutto once, Farooq Leghari and Rafiq Tarar once each, Shaukat Aziz once and Mamnoon Hussain once.
Ali Siddiqi is a former bureaucrat and runs an academic training outfit in Karachi. He can be reached at tviuk@hotmail.com
Using the sword as a symbol of distinction is not new as the Holy Prophet (PBUH) gave his own sword, Zulfiqar, to Hazrat Ali (RA) in the battle of Uhud, dignifying it as a Sword of Honour. Evoking honour in humans to motivate them to go to any extent in performing tasks has been an age-long practice that was exploited by monarchies as well as republics.
Winning the Sword of Honour is the dream of every cadet training at PMA Kakul. Since 1948 the sword has been awarded 136 times to 133 PMA Long Courses, IMA/PMA Course and two graduate courses. The sword for IMA (Indian Military Academy)/PMA Long Course, the first course graduating, was presented in 1948 by Khwaja Nazimuddin, second governor-general, to Battalion Senior Under Officer Sadiq ur Rashid Muhammad Abbasi—hailing from the ruling Daudputra nawabs of Bahawalpur state—who as lieutenant general, became the second longest serving Governor of Sindh. (He was reportedly furious about his retirement despite serving an extended period of two years and accused Gen Zia of backtracking from an earlier promise of promoting him to four stars and appointing him as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee!)
Maj Raja Aziz Bhatti of 1 PMA Course (1950) won the sword, joined 17 Punjab regiment, was martyred in the 1965 war and was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider posthumously. The PMA recently named one training company (Aziz Bhatti) after him. Lt Gen KK Afridi became the first Piffer (Frontier Force Regiment) to win it in 4 PMA Course in 1951 and he later became the Governor of Balochistan. The sword winner in 6 PMA Course was Abdul Qayyum, the first East Pakistani, who resigned his commission, became an additional secretary to the government and preferred to stay in Pakistan after 1971 although his brother was killed in military action in Dacca University in March 1971. Umar Khan Afridi got it in 9 PMA Course and retired as federal secretary. Maj Gen Khurshid Ali Khan earned it in 11 PMA Course and later became ambassador to Portugal and subsequently served as governor of NWFP.
Captain Usman Ali G. Isani won the sword in 13 PMA Course in 1956, left the army, joined the civil service, retiring as a high-ranking civil servant but never giving up his erstwhile army title of captain (à la Iskander Mirza). He remained Chief Secretary Sindh, Secretary to PM Junejo and chairman of the HEC
(formerly University Grants Commission)
An interesting case is of Captain Usman Ali G. Isani who won the sword in 13 PMA Course in 1956, left the army, joined the civil service, retiring as a high-ranking civil servant but never giving up his erstwhile army title of captain (à la Iskander Mirza). He remained Chief Secretary Sindh, Secretary to PM Junejo and chairman of the HEC. Arshad Fareed attained it in 14 PMA Course, left the army and died in a road accident while serving as Commissioner Swat. The one and only Christian officer, Esmond D’Cunha, received the sword in 16 PMA Course but left the army and migrated to Canada. Maj Gen Abdus Sami got it in 22 PMA Course, was Vice Chief of General Staff when he accompanied Gen Zia to Bahawalpur and was killed with him in the air crash. The nemesis of Pakistan Administrative Service (former DMG) Tanvir Naqvi won it in 23 PMA Course and retired as lieutenant general but was reactivated by Musharraf to carry out administrative reforms.
Maj Gen Mahmud Ali Durrani was its recipient in 24 PMA Course and was a course mate of former COAS Gen Jahangir Karamat. A fellow armoured corps officer (25 Cavalry), he also served as Military Secretary to Gen Zia and was suspected by the then US Ambassador to India John Gunther Dean as ‘extraordinarily insistent’ with Zia to visit Bahawalpur to inspect the performance of the US-manufactured Abram battle tank offered to be sold to Pakistan. He later became ambassador to the US, and on the behest of President Zardari, was appointed National Security Adviser in the cabinet of Yusuf Raza Gilani who unceremoniously sacked him for not taking him into confidence before confirming the nationality of Ajmal Kasab, involved in the Mumbai terrorist incident. Best Pregnancy Pillows for Side Sleepers. Need a pregnancy body pillow you can snuggle while lying on your side? Meet the Snoogle pregnancy pillow. Its hook shape supports your back while one end goes under your head (giving you ample extra length to snuggle) and the other end tucks between your legs - best pregnancy pillow can help to alleviate this discomfort and help you achieve that good night’s sleep your body so desperately needs. Find pregnancy pillows that will improve your sleep in this list reviewed by a board-certified OB-GYN.
The sword was won by Maj Shabbir Sharif, Nishan-e-Haider, older brother of former COAS Gen Raheel Sharif, in 29 PMA Course. He joined 6 FF (Gen Pervez Musharraf was his course mate and so was Lt Gen Ali Quli Khan, brother-in-law of Gohar Ayub Khan, whom PM Nawaz Sharif superseded in favour of the former). The PMA has dedicated one of its training companies to him. The winner in 31 PMA Course was Azhar-ul-Islam, brother of Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, formerly the head of the ISI, who retired as a major and settled in the US.
In recent times the sword was won three times in a row by three officers of 40, 41 and 42 PMA Courses who all reached the three-star rank: Tariq Waseem Ghazi worked as Corps Commander Karachi and was appointed Secretary of Defence after retirement, Syed Perwez Shahid (a Petarian whom President Zardari, himself from Cadet College Petaro, made chairman of the Zulfikarabad Authority but left without accomplishing anything) and Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who served as DG Strategic Plans Division, controlling the authority of nuclear assets, for 13 years!
Lt Gen Syed Shahid Aziz, who castigated Gen Musharraf in his book despite being his Chief of General Staff and the chairman of NAB, won the sword in 44 PMA Course. Capt (ret’d) Khurram Nawaz Gandapur won this award in 47 PMA Course and joined 14 Punjab Regiment but left it and is now secretary-general of Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek. The son of former COAS, Gen Tikka Khan, Tariq Mehmood Khan, got it in 48 PMA Course, took retirement as a major and settled in the US.
Armoured Corps officer Lt Gen Tariq Khan also won it in 55 PMA Course but, despite being acclaimed as a battle-hardened commander and strong contender for the top slot, he lost the race to Gen Raheel Sharif. Former Corps Commander Lahore Lt Gen Naveed Zaman won it in 61 PMA Course and Maj Gen Isfandiyar Pataudi in 63 PMA Course. His father Maj Gen Sher Ali Khan belonged to the princely house of Pataudi and is closely related to Indian film superstar Saif Ali Khan.
Despite being recipients of the most coveted distinction at the onset of their service, the sword winners have been found wanting in meeting the high standards expected of them during their careers. Out of 16 Chiefs, barring two British officers, surprisingly no one won the sword of honour! Officers from 83 of the 136 courses passed out to date have reached two-star and three-star ranks (major general and lieutenant general) and the remaining belonging to 53 courses are in junior ranks. From among the 83 courses, 16 swords winners reached the three-star rank, less than 20 percent of the lot, underlining that winning the highest training award is no guarantee to reaching the top. Sixteen swords holders reached the rank of major general, proving almost the same percentage of success as three-star generals. Out of two four-star and 28 three-star generals currently forming the top layer of the army general staff, only two are swords of honour holders: Lt Gen Javed Mahmood Bukhari (Engrs) of 69 PMA serving as Quartermaster General in GHQ and Lt Gen Azhar Saleh Abbasi (AC) of 74 PMA, Commandant I Corps in Mangla, the primary strike corps of the army, the other being II Corps garrisoned in Multan.
The allocation of arms (infantry, artillery, armoured corps and engineers) to sword winners sees the Frontier Force Regiment scooping up 27 winners into its ranks on being commissioned, followed by the Armoured Corps with 23 assignees, Artillery getting 21 officers, Punjab and Baloch Regiments absorbing 20 officers each, Engineers attracting 16 officers and Sind Regiment 2. No sword winner joined the network of service arms that includes the competent and vital EME, Signals, ASC, and Ordnance etc.
Fourteen officers winning this coveted prize are sons of former army officers and one Maj (r) Jawad Khan of 78 PMA Course was commissioned in 7 FF, the unit both his father and grandfather belonged to! PMA Courses from 57 PMA (April 1978) to 77 PMA (March 1988) are known as Zia Bharti that reached top positions after the retirement of Gens Rashad Mahmood and Raheel Sharif. The current COAS is from 62 PMA Course commissioned in October 1980 in 16 Baloch. His course mate who won the sword was Brigadier Farhat Sabir commissioned in 1 SP Medium Regiment of Artillery but who died in a Fokker crash near Multan in 2006. A whopping 37 sword winners acquired their early education from Military College Jhelum, an institution formed in 1925.
Seven swords of honour recipients embraced martyrdom while fighting for the country: Maj Aziz Bhatti (Punjab) in 1965; Lt Naeem Akhtar (Punjab) in 1965; Maj Adib Anwar Khan (FF) in 1971; Maj Shabbir Sharif (FF) in 1971 and Capt Javed Akhtar (Baloch) in Siachen. In recent times Capt Mearaj Muhammad (AC) of 112 PMA Course sacrificed his life fighting terrorists in action in Buner in 2009. Capt Asfandyar Ahmed Bukhari (FF) of 118 PMA Course embraced martyrdom in 2015 while fighting terrorists who attacked Badaber Air Force base.
In Pakistan where the civilian segment of governance structure would give an arm and a leg to be close to the uniformed part, being invited as guest of honour to the annual PMA passing-out parade is considered a privilege that is not very frequently accorded to them. Governor General Khwaja Nazimuddin was invited as guest of honour in 1948 followed by PM Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950. Khwaja Nazimuddin as PM was invited twice more in 1951 and 1953 and PM Suhrwardy in 1957 but FM Ayub Khan gradually reduced the practice and invited Army, Air Force and Navy Chiefs to preside over the parades and even deputed Commandant PMA Brig Sultan Khan to do it twice in 1965. This practice was followed until 1973 when Bhutto was invited to present it to 9 Graduate Course and twice more in 1975 and 1976 and on the later occasion he went wearing a Mao cap! President Fazal Ellahi Chaudhry was invited to present it twice, Junejo once, Ghulam Ishaq Khan twice, Nawaz Sharif thrice, Benazir Bhutto once, Farooq Leghari and Rafiq Tarar once each, Shaukat Aziz once and Mamnoon Hussain once.
Ali Siddiqi is a former bureaucrat and runs an academic training outfit in Karachi. He can be reached at tviuk@hotmail.com