Ali Kuli Khan
| Ali Kuli Khan Khattak | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Service/branch | Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1964 – 1998 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Unit | Baloch Regiment (12 Baloch) |
| Commands held | 8th Infantry Division, Sialkot Command and Staff College, Quetta DG Military Intelligence (DGMI) X Corps (Rawalpindi) Chief of General Staff (CGS) |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 |
| Awards | Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) |
Lieutenant General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak was a former Chief of General Staff (CGS), Commander X Corps (Rawalpindi) and Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) of the Pakistan Army who was superseded when the then Lieutenant General Pervez Musharraf was promoted as the chief of army staff. As the DGMI, he exposed the 1995 Pakistani coup d'état attempt in which Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi tried to overthrow the Benazir Bhutto government and install an Islamist regime.
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[edit] Early military career
Ali Kuli Khan Khattak was inducted in the 29th PMA Long Course in 1964 graduating first in his course. He belonged to the 12th Battalion of the Baloch Regiment, the same unit of his father Lt General Habibullah Khan Khattak. He also resigned from the Army in 1998 like his father when he was superseded by General Pervez Musharraf as the Army Chief (Habibullah was installed as the Chief of Staff (COS) to General Musa Khan by President Ayub Khan in 1958, but as the two couldn't get along despite of being batch-mates, Habibullah resigned from the Army).
[edit] Exposing the 1995 coup d'état attempt
As the DGMI, he exposed the 1995 Pakistani coup d'état attempt in which Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi tried to overthrow the Benazir Bhutto government and install an Islamist regime. This was the fourth failed (and exposed) coup attempt in Pakistani history. The first one was the 1951 Rawalpindi Conspiracy when Maj Gen Akbar Khan, then CGS tried to overthrow the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan government over the handling of 1948 Kashmir War, the second one was the Attock Conspiracy Case during tenure of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the third one was during General Zia-ul-Haq's era when Maj Gen Tajammal Hussain Malik was arrested along with other conspirators.[1]
[edit] X Corps and Chief of General Staff
Ali Kuli took over the X Corps in October 1995 after his investigations led the Army to uncover the coup attempt. He replaced the then X corps commander Lt Gen Ghulam Muhammad Malik, whose name also surfaced in the coup attempts, but was later exonerated. Kuli later became the Chief of General Staff (CGS) after Lt Gen Iftikhar Ali Khan was made the Defence Secretary by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He retired from the army when Musharraf was made the COAS in October 1998. At that time, Musharraf superseded two senior officers; Ali Kuli Khan Khattak and Khalid Nawaz, the then Quarter-Master General (QMG).
[edit] Kargil War rebuttal
Owing to Musharraf's claim of Kargil War as a military success, General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak in a scathing review brushed off Musharraf's claim as fictitious, and termed the debacle as the biggest tragedy of Pakistan even bigger than East Pakistan dismemberment. He is also very critical of Musharraf's book In the Line of Fire, where according to him, the author puts Ali Kuli Khan's image in a negative manner.
[edit] References
- ^ Ihtashamul Haque. "Coup leaders wanted Islamic revolution" Dawn, 15 October, 1995
[edit] External links
- Interview with Lt Gen (r) Ali Kuli Khan
- General Ali Kuli Khan Accuses Musharraf of Lies and Half-Truths
- I never advocated martial law: Kuli (The News)
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Iftikhar Ali Khan |
Chief of General Staff 1997 – 1998 |
Succeeded by Aziz Khan |
