Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Muhammad Alam Khan Khattak, HI(M), TBt, was a

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

general who was the Commander of Southern Command based at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

and later served as the country's Federal Defence Secretary. He took over the command in October 2011Shakil Shaikh
"DG Rangers also gets three stars"
''The News'', 5 October 2011 after staying as Chief of Logistics Staff (CLS) at the Army GHQ for two years."Bahawalpur gets new corps commander"
''Dawn'', 4 October 2009 He was previously in charge of the

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps ( ur, , reporting name: FC), are a group of paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's borders with Afghanista ...

as its Inspector-General and led it most notably in the

War in North-West Pakistan The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan, and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jund ...

from 2006 to 2008. Before that, he led the Quetta Infantry Division in the ongoing

insurgency in Balochistan The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch nationalism, Baloch nationalists against the governments of Government of Pakistan, Pakistan and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran in the Balochistan, Balochistan ...

from 2004 to 2006.

Early life

Alam Khattak was born in Nowshera village of Dag Ismail Khel and is an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

from the

Khattak The Khattak ( ps, خټک) tribe are a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. History Khushal Khan Khattak A warrior poet by the name of ...

tribe. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army's famed 14th

Frontier Force Regiment The Frontier Force Regiment is one of the six infantry regiments of the Pakistan Army. They are popularly known as the ''Piffers'' in reference to their military history as the PIF (Punjab Irregular Force) of the British Indian Army, or as the ...

in April 1975 in the 51st PMA Long Course.

Insurgency in Balochistan

Khattak first came to prominence in 2004-2006, when as commander of Pakistan's 41st Infantry Division in

he was thrust into battle against Balochi tribal militants. Despite a few early setbacks he was able to more or less control/contain the militancy, through a combination of diplomacy (he helped to create a tribal militia to counter the militants called the "Marri Force") and decisive action when merited.

War in North-West Pakistan

This brought him to the fore and he was sent to another hotspot as commander of the paramilitary

in 2006. Here he applied the lessons learned and unlike his predecessor insisted on dialogue which ultimately led to the 2006 peace deal. Unfortunately this was used by foreign militants to regroup and led to a spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan in 2007. The end of the ceasefire and the militants offensive brought FC under tremendous pressure and Khattak was criticized. However, he had by late 2007 and 2008 in conjunction with regular army troops managed to bring most of the restive

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

and

Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...

areas under some aspect of authority as evidenced by Baitullah Mehsud's unilateral ceasefire.

Senior staff appointments

He was replaced by Maj Gen Tariq Khan as the Inspector General in September 2008. Khattak then took over as the Deputy Chief of General Staff replacing Lt Gen Javed Zia who proceeded as the Adjutant General at the Army GHQ. On September 25, 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and took over the post of Chief of Logistics Staff (CLS) from the retiring Lt Gen Shafaat Ullah Shah. On October 4, 2011 he took over the Southern Command from the retiring Lt Gen Javed Zia and thus being back at the forefront of

after commanding troops at the division level. He retired from the Army in 2013 and was appointed Secretary Defense on 4 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khattak, Alam Pakistani generals Pashtun people Living people People from Nowshera District Frontier Force Regiment officers Year of birth missing (living people)