Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Athar Abbas is a former

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the ISPR and former

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of Pakistan to Ukraine from 2015 to 2018. He retired from active military service after 35 years in June 2012.

Military career

General Abbas was commissioned in October 1976 in the 54th PMA Long Course from the

Pakistan Military Academy Pakistan Military Academy ( ur, ), also referred to by its acronym PMA. PMA is an officers training school located near Kakul village in the city and district of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established in 1947. It is the sole service academy ...

Kakul Kakul (Kakol) is a village situated in the Tehsil and District Abbottabad, at an elevation of 1300 metres, 5 km northeast of center of Abbottabad city near the Thandiani Hills. Abbottabad is a District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Paki ...

into the Pakistan Armoured Corps. He has held various command, staff and instructional appointments that include command of an armoured regiment, armoured brigade and armoured division. He has been

General Staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military u ...

(Operations) in various armoured formations. He is a graduate of

Command and Staff College, Quetta ( ''romanized'': Pir Sho Biyamooz Saadi)English: Grow old, learning Saadi ur, سیکھتے ہوئے عمر رسیدہ ہو جاؤ، سعدی , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'' in Deolali, British India) , closed ...

and

Malaysian Armed Forces The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ms, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia; Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active per ...

Staff College,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malays ...

. After 35 years of active military service, Athar Abbas retired in June 2012.

Education

He is a participant of the Executive Course at Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is ...

, US. He has attended Armed Forces War Course and National Defence Course at the

National Defence University, Islamabad , native_name_lang = ur , image = National Defence University, Pakistan Logo.png , image_upright = , image_alt = , caption = Seal of the NDU , former_name = National Defence College , motto ...

. He has been on the faculty of Command and Staff College, Quetta and National Defence College, Islamabad. He holds a master's degrees in War Studies as well as Strategic Studies from

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

. He was promoted to Major General in June 2005 and had commanded an armoured division in

Kharian Kharian ( ur, ), is a city located within the Gujrat District of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Kharian is the headquarters of Kharian Tehsil. According to 2017 Census of Pakistan, it has a population of about 87,419. It is known as Litt ...

from June 2005 to June 2007.

Other office appointments

Before joining Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, General Abbas was serving as Director General Quartering and Lands in Quartermaster General's Branch, General Headquarters. After he was appointed as the DG ISPR, Major General Mohammad Farooq replaced him at his previous position.

Family

Athar Abbas is married with three children, two daughters and a son. He also has 4 brothers, 3 of them are journalists Azhar Abbas (journalist), Mazhar Abbas, and

Zaffar Abbas Zaffar Abbas is a Pakistani journalist, who has been the editor of Pakistan's English-language daily ''DAWN'', since October 2010. Career Abbas started his journalism career in 1981 with '' The Star'' after joining the Dawn Media Group. Betwe ...

. The other is Anwer Abbas.

References

External links