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

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

general who was the Commander of Southern Command based at

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

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 (, reporting name: FC) are a group of four paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's b ...

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), Jun ...

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

insurgency in Balochistan The insurgency in Balochistan () is an ongoing insurgency by Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Iran in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan and Pakistan in the province of Baloch ...

from 2004 to 2006.

Early life

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

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

from the

Khattak The Khattak () tribe is a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. History Origins Multiple British Raj historians have identified the Khat ...

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 A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

and

Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...

areas under some aspect of authority as evidenced by

Baitullah Mehsud Baitullah Mehsud ( – 5 August 2009) was a Pakistani militant. He was one of the founders and a leader of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in Waziristan. He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007.Abbas, Hassan ...

'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 Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistan Army lieutenant generals People from Nowshera District Frontier Force Regiment officers Pashtun people