Akbar Khan (general, born 1912)

Akbar Khan (1 December 1912 – 5 June 1993) was a highly decorated officer of the British Indian Army and general in the Pakistan Army. A pioneer of proxy warfare, Khan commanded tribal forces in the first Kashmir War. In 1951, he was convicted of planning a left-wing coup. He later became a lawyer and advisor of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Gaining a King's Commission into the British Indian Army in 1934, Khan saw active combat in the Burma campaign during World War II. Displaying bravery and gallantry, he was recommended for a Victoria Cross. He played a key role in planning the tribal invasion of Kashmir in 1947, leading to the first war with India, where he later assumed full command of the tribal forces under the pseudonym General Tariq.

In 1951, he was convicted of being the ringleader of a planned left-wing coup along with several other communist figures such as Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, that came to be known as the Rawalpindi conspiracy. He was released after serving 5 years.

He became a founding member of the Pakistan People's Party and helped organise the People's Guard and served as its commander. He later became an advisor of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and served as the Minister for internal security in his government from 1971 to 1973. Under his guidance, the Army quelled the Baloch Insurgency. He also served as the ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1973 to 1974. His political career came to an end following the 1977 Pakistani military coup. He died in 1993 in Karachi.

He has been described as one of the ablest officers of the British Indian Army. He has also been credited as an architect of proxy warfare by aiding non-state actors.

Early life and education Akbar Khan was born on 1 December 1912 in the village of Utmanzai in the district of Charsadda in the North-West Frontier Province.January 1946 Half Yearly Army List He belonged to an affluent Pashtun family of the Pareech Khel clan, a subtribe within the Utmanzai branch of the larger Muhammadzai tribe.

His father, Haji Mohammad Akram Khan (1880–1954), was an affluent landowner, educationist and tribal elder. Akram was a material and financial supporter of Abdul Ghaffar Khan's educational initiatives and notably donated his primary house and land to establish the campus of Azad School Utmanzai in April 1921.

Akbar Khan had attended the Islamia College University in Peshawar. He was later selected to be trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in England as part of the final batch of Indian gentlemen cadets, completing his course in late 1933. He was King's Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the British Indian Army in February 1934, initially serving with the Royal Hampshire Regiment for experience for one year. His date of commission was later antedated to 31 August 1933 and he joined the 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1935.

In October 1936, Khan officially qualified as a 1st Class Interpreter in Urdu, and was listed in the specialised "Interpreters" branch of the army. He had a reputation as a practical joker in the army. He was also a keen hockey player.Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). "Brig. Akbar Khan to Attend Staff College Course in U.K." December 29, 1949.

Military career (1934-1951)

British Indian Army & World War II He took part in operations in the Waziristan war for two years from 1937 to 1938.

During the Second World War he served with the 14th battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles, part of 100th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 20th Indian Division during active combat operations against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Burma campaign.

On 31 August 1941, he was promoted to substantive captain. As a captain and temporary major he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for conspicuous gallantry and leadership displayed during the Battle of Kwanlan Ywathit.

During the heavy fighting in Irrawaddy, Khan commanded the "B" company. He later independently commanded this company along with the "C" company as communication with GHQ was poor. British officers under Khan's command remarked that it never crossed their mind that Akbar Khan was a native Indian.

Victoria Cross citation For his immense bravery during the campaign, Major General Douglas Gracey, who commanded Akbar Khan's division, recommended Khan for the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious British award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. However, due to a lack of credible witness' that had survived the intense fighting, Khan was instead awarded the Distinguished Service Order, further endorsed by General William Slim.

He was also appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Pakistan Army

During the Partition of India in 1947, Lieutenant-Colonel Khan opted for the Pakistan Army.

At the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Akbar Khan was a member of the sub-committee involved in the division of the armed forces between the newly created states of India and Pakistan. He was also the only serving officer of the Pakistan Army who held a DSO. In September 1947, he was appointed Director of weapons and equipment at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Akbar Khan's own book Raiders in Kashmir (National Book Foundation, Pakistan, 1975) gives a thorough account of his role in the Pakistani attack on Maharaja Hari Singh's princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. His original role was in arranging guns and devising strategies for the Poonch rebels organised by Sardar Ibrahim with the assistance of the Pakistan Army. He makes clear he had no involvement in the Pashtun lashkars organised by Khurshid Anwar, which invaded the state on 22 October 1947.

Less than two months after Independence, fighting started in Kashmir, the Indian Army landed in Srinagar and confronted the Pathan tribesmen who were advancing towards the valley. Akbar Khan, who was then a brigadier, assumed command of the regulars and irregulars fighting against the Indian forces and was given the code name "General Tariq".

In July 1950, Brigadier Akbar Khan successfully completed the 6th Course at the British Joint Services Staff College (JSSC). It was during this time that he met communists in London, which led him to come under suspicion by British intelligence agencies. In December 1950, he was promoted to Major General. He was proposed to be appointed as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army along with Major-general Ayub Khan. On 9 March 1951, Akbar Khan, then Chief of the General Staff was arrested by police when his involvement in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy came to light.

The Rawalpindi Conspiracy

Change of heart It was during this period that he first became dissatisfied with the moral and material support being given to the Pakistani fighters by Liaquat Ali Khan's government. He also had a grudge against General Douglas David Gracey, then Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, who had put a brake on the deeper involvement of the Pakistani army on the Kashmir front. Akbar Khan was of the opinion – rightly or wrongly – that acceptance of the ceasefire in Kashmir when he was only four hours away from capturing Srinagar was a mistake, and the armed operation against the Indian Army should have been continued.

The constraints under which Akbar Khan had to conduct the battle in Kashmir made him a very frustrated and dissatisfied man. By nature he was extremely brave and, in fact, rather rash. He was also very ambitious. All these qualities and tendencies combined to propel him towards conjuring up a plan to remove the Liaquat government by means of a coup d'état.

The conspiracy begins In sheer frustration, Akbar Khan started discourses with other armed forces officers to form a group to stage a military coup. The government also became suspicious of his moves. Akbar Khan's wife, Nasim Shahnawaz (daughter of the famous Muslim League woman politician Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz), was quite indiscreet in her conversation, criticizing the Government and its policies before all and sundry, as did Akbar Khan himself, to some extent. He thus came under the watch of the intelligence agencies.

Brigadier Akbar was now due for promotion on the basis of his seniority. In December, 1950, he was promoted to major general and posted as Chief of General Staff in GHQ. In his book Friends, Not Masters, General Ayub Khan wrote that he (Ayub) decided to post Akbar in the GHQ so that, firstly Akbar should not have direct command over troops like a division commander, and secondly because he could be kept under close watch by General Ayub Khan himself. Meanwhile, Akbar Khan continued his surreptitious meetings and discussions with various army officers and later with the civilians too.

The Communist Party connection In those days the Communist Party of Pakistan was under tremendous pressure from Liaquat Ali Khan's government. It was not allowed to function openly as a political party. Arrest warrants had been issued for all the top leaders of the party — all the members of the party's central committee had gone underground. Ordinary workers and even sympathizers were often arrested, beaten, sent to the fearful Lahore Fort for interrogation and threatened with dire consequences if they did not break all connections with the CP. This was the climate of oppression of the left at that time.

Akbar Khan's wife Nasim had vast connections with political families and political personalities such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who was a committed sympathizer of the party. All these political connections brought together the Chief of General Staff and the CP leadership.

Apparently the general had promised the CP leadership that if he came to power he would stop the continuous governmental assault on the leftists; the CP would be allowed to function as a legitimate political party like any other party and to take part in the elections which General Akbar promised to hold a few months after consolidating his power. In return the CP and its affiliated trade unions, kissan (peasant) committees, etc., would welcome the military government. The Pakistan Times, one of the leading newspapers of that period, whose editor was Faiz Ahmed Faiz, would lend editorial support to General Akbar's new dispensation.

The day and co-conspirators On 23 February 1951, a meeting was held at Major General Akbar Khan's house in which besides a number of military officers, three civilians were also present, namely Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Syed Sajjad Zaheer (General Secretary of the CP) and Mohammed Hussain Ata. In this meeting were also present Lt-Colonel Siddique Raja MC, and Major Mohammed Yousuf Sethi both of whom later obtained state pardon and became approvers in the case against the others. The Chief of General Staff Akbar Khan presented his plan in this meeting which was to arrest the Governor-General Khawaja Nazimuddin and the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, both of whom were expected to be in Rawalpindi after a week (Karachi being the capital at that time). The Governor-General was to be forced to announce the dismissal of the Liaquat Government and the formation of an interim government presumably under General Akbar Khan. General elections under the army's supervision were also promised but no timeframe was given. The general also spoke about Kashmir, land reforms, eradication of corruption and nepotism and some such other topic.

The probable leak Among General Akbar's confidants was one Askar Ali Shah, a police officer who was although not present at the meeting of 23 February 1951, had been informed beforehand by the general that he was going to convene such a meeting. This police officer had been a confidant of the general for over two years (or more) and had never leaked out any secret. But this time he got cold feet and blurted out to his IG Police, who in turn informed the Governor NWFP about the meeting. The governor wasted no time in contacting the prime minister.