Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Muhammed Zafar Khan was the first South Asian Commander in the British Indian Army Cavalry. Khan belongs to the Minhas

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

clan of

Chakwal Chakwal (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilometre ...

. His father Raja Fazal Dad Khan was a minor Zamindar (landowner) and was commissioned with a British Indian Army cavalry unit. Five of Brig Muhammed Zafar Khan's brothers (in total he had seven brothers) joined the Army and became officers. His elder brother,

Muhammed Akbar Khan Muhammed Akbar Khan ( ur, محمد اکبر خان), MBE PA-1 (19 April 1897 - 1993) was a Pakistani general and at the time of the independence of Pakistan, he was the most senior Muslim General. He also served as the first Senior Military S ...

was the first Indian Muslim to become a General in the British Indian Army. His brother, General

Muhammad Anwar Khan Major General Raja Muhammad Anwar Khan was the first Pakistan Army Engineer Officer and the first Muslim Engineer In Chief of the Pakistan Army. He was the first Muslim to be a Sapper officer in the British Indian Army and its pre-partition ...

was the first Engineer in Chief of the Pakistan Army and his brother

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 ...

Muhammed Iftikhar Khan was an officer inherited by the Pakistan Army from British India. He had been nominated to become the first local Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army after General Douglas David Gracey's retirement. However, his death in a tragic plane crash in 1949 was a disaster for the newly formed country.

References

* Pakistan's Drift into Extremism, Hassan Abbas, 2005 * Pakistani Generals, A. K Anwar, 1992 * Akbar Khan, a biography, Khalid Akbar, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Akbar British Indian Army officers Pakistan Armoured Corps officers Indian Army personnel of World War II People from Chakwal District 1983 deaths 1908 births