Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
Nickname(s)	Kayani
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Army (PA – 12850)
Years of service	1971 –
Rank	General
Unit	Baloch Regiment (5 Baloch)
Commands	12th Infantry Division, Murree DG Military Operations (DGMO) X Corps, Rawalpindi DG Inter-Services Intelligence Vice Chief of Army Staff Chief of Army Staff
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff War in North-West Pakistan
Awards	Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (civilian) Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military)

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI(M), HI, afwc, fsc(u), psc,(Urdu: اشفاق پرویز کیانی , born April 1952) is a Pakistani general and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced Pervez Musharraf as the leader of the army on November 29, 2007. Kayani is the former director of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and Director General of Military Operations.

Known as a "quiet man" in both Pakistan and abroad because of his constant refusal to grant interviews to both domestic and to the foreign media, Time magazine ranked him 20th in the list of "Leaders & Revolutionaries" of the world in 2008 and 17th in the same list in 2009. He was also named in the Newsweek "Top 50 Global Elite" and the New Statesman "The 50 people who matter today" being placed on 20th and 24th in the lists respectively.

Personal life

Kayani belongs to a martial tribe called Gakhars. He was born in Manghot village, Gujar Khan, suburb of Rawalpindi, known to produce Pakistan Army generals. He grew up in a working-low class family, son of a junior officer, Lehrasab Khan. He is described as a soft-spoken intellectual who is apolitical, and disciplined. A chain smoker as well as a keen golfer, he is the current president of the Pakistan Golf Federation. Kayani is married and has two children, one son and one daughter.

Army career

Kayani is a graduate of Military College Jhelum (College No. 2828) and the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul and was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 29 August, 1971 as part of 45th PMA Long Course in the 5th Battalion of the Baloch Regiment. He is also a graduate of the Infantry Officer Advanced Course, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia; Command and Staff College, Quetta; the United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii; and the National Defence College, Islamabad, where he holds a masters degree in War Studies.

During his career in the army, he has commanded an Infantry Battalion, an Infantry Brigade, the 12th Infantry Division based in Kashmir and the prestigious Rawalpindi Corps.

Benazir's Secretary and DGMO

Kayani has also served as her deputy military secretary of Benazir Bhutto during her first stint as prime minister. He also served as the General Officer Commander (GOC) 12th Infantry Division stationed in Murree, deployed all over the Line of Control and which comes under the X Corps (Rawalpindi).

Kayani's career progressed and he went on to serve as the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) from December 2000 to September 2003. It was during his tenure as DGMO that the intense military standoff of 2001-2002 between Pakistan and India took place. Reportedly, Kayani only slept a few hours a night during that period as he diligently oversaw the army’s mobilization and preparedness on the border.

Corps Commander Rawalpindi

Kayani was promoted as Lieutenant General in September 2003, and was given the command of the X Corps in Rawalpindi. The promotion indicated Musharraf's significant trust in Kayani, since an army chief cannot build an army coup without the help of the X Corps commander. Kayani led the corps until October 2004, when he was transferred to the ISI as its chief.

During Kayani's tenure at the X Corps, he led the successful investigation of the two back-to-back suicide attacks against Musharraf in December 2003. It is believed that Kayani won the trust of Musharraf after the investigation, and a prelude to Kayani's promotion to the sensitive position of ISI chief. He was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the civilian medal, for his achievement.

Inter-Services Intelligence

In October 2004, Ashfaq Kayani was made the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence, in place of General Ehsan ul Haq, who was promoted as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Kayani led the ISI during a bleak period, with insurgencies in North-West Pakistan and Balochistan, Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear proliferation scandal, and waves of suicide attacks throughout Pakistan emanating from the northwestern tribal belt. In his final days at the ISI, he also led the talks with Benazir Bhutto for a possible power sharing deal with Musharraf. In October 2007, after three years, he was replaced at the ISI by Lt Gen Nadeem Taj.

Kayani was also present at the infamous March 2007 meeting that took place between Musharraf and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when the former military ruler informed the strong-willed top judge that he was suspended. Accounts of that meeting narrated that Kayani was the only one among Musharraf’s aides that did not speak a word.

Chief of Army Staff

In October 2007, Kayani was promoted as a full general, and made the Vice Chief of Army Staff. At the time of promotion, Kayani superseded one officer, Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai who was on an extension for a year. He took over as the new army chief of Pakistan Army after Musharraf's retirement on November 28, 2007. The ceremony was held at the sports stadium near General Headquarters, Rawalpindi. Kayani is the first officer in the history of Pakistan who held the position of DG ISI and then went on to become the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). The last time a Director General of the ISI was to be made army chief in 1999, the Army staged a bloodless coup to reinstate the proposed outgoing Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf.

Withdrawal of military from civilian government

In January 2008 General Kayani passed a directive which ordered military officers not to maintain contacts with politicians. It was further made public on 13 February, 2008 that General Kayani ordered the withdrawal of military officers from all of Pakistan's government civil departments. It was an action that reversed the policies of his predecessor, President Musharraf. It was welcomed by President Musharraf’s critics, who have long demanded that the military distance itself from politics. The Pakistani media reported that the army officers would be withdrawn from 23 wide-ranging civil departments, including the National Highway Authority, National Accountability Bureau, Ministry of Education, and Water and Power Development Authority.

2008 general election

On 7 March 2008 General Kayani confirmed that Pakistan's armed forces will stay out of politics and support the new government. He told a gathering of military commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that "the army fully stands behind the democratic process and is committed to playing its constitutional role." The comments made were after the results of the Pakistani general election, 2008 where the Pakistan Peoples Party won the election and began forming a coalition government who were opposed to President Pervez Musharraf.

Perception as COAS

Since taking up his current post, a steady parade of top-level U.S. officials have visited General Kayani to make up their own minds about him. Most, including CIA chief Michael Hayden, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and CENTCOM commander Admiral William Fallon have come away confident that Kayani "knows what he’s doing."

Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani has been described as a "soldier’s soldier" by US military officials. When he was appointed army chief, his first move was to visit the front lines in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, something that most US Generals very rarely do with the war in Afghanistan. Spending the Muslim holiday of Eid not with his family, but rather with his soldiers prompted American military officials to praise him as a "soldier’s soldier." A senior US military official predicted that the Pakistani army would perform much better under General Kayani than his predecessor Pervez Musharraf, who was often distracted by politics while serving as both President and Army Chief. The report quoted retired Pakistani military officials as saying that in an army deeply enmeshed in Pakistani politics, General Kayani had declined to ally himself with any political groups. As a junior officer, he briefly served as a military aide to Benazir Bhutto during her first term as prime minister in the late 1980s, but has stayed away from politicians since then.

The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen is a close friend of General Kayani.

External links

• Official profile at ISPR website
• Official profile at Pakistan Army website
• Profile at BBC News
• Profile at The News