Rahimuddin Khan (21 July 1926 – 22 August 2022) was a general of the

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 ...

who served as the 4th

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) ( ur, ) is, in principle, the highest-ranking and senior most uniformed military officer, typically at four-star rank, in the Pakistan Armed Forces who serves as a Principal Staff Officer an ...

from 1984 to 1987, after serving as the 7th governor of Balochistan from 1978 to 1984. He also served as the 16th

governor of Sindh The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the chief minister and the chief secretary of Si ...

in 1988. Opting for Pakistan during the Partition, Rahimuddin enrolled as the first cadet of 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 ...

. He was part of

military action War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

during the 1953 Punjab disturbances, and later commanded 111 Brigade in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

and II Corps in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...

. As Chairman Joint Chiefs, he rejected the future military plan for the

Kargil Conflict The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referred ...

. As the longest-serving governor of Balochistan, Rahimuddin declared a general amnesty and ended all military operations in the province. His tenure saw widespread development, including the opening of Sui gas fields to

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 ...

, the construction of nuclear test sites in Chaghai, and the halting of the Baloch insurgency. He was credited with financial honesty, but controversially suppressed mujahideen entering the province during the

Soviet war in Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He refused an extension of service as chairman joint chiefs, retiring in 1987.

Early life and family

Rahimuddin Khan was born on 21 July 1926, in

Qaimganj Kaimganj is a town in Farrukhabad district in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. Kaimganj Railway Station is a major station between Farrukhabad and Kasganj on Rajputana railway link of North Eastern Railway. Description Kaimganj is just 10&n ...

, United Provinces,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, to a 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 ...

family, that had ancestry from

Tirah The Tirah also spelled Terah ( ps, تیراہ) also called the Tirah Valley (), is a mountainous tract located in the Khyber district, lying between the Khyber Pass and the Khanki Valley in Pakistan. Society Lying close to the Pak-Afghan borde ...

. He was the nephew of educationist Zakir Husain, later the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

, and the son-in-law of Husain's brother,

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the p ...

figure and member of the first

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected ...

Mahmud Husain. He attended Jamia Millia Islamia University in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

, founded by Zakir Husain. He opted for Pakistan during

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the s ...

in 1947, enrolling as Gentleman Cadet-1 of the

Military service

As a captain, Rahimuddin was part of the military operation under Azam Khan during the

1953 Lahore riots The Lahore riots of 1953 were a series of violent riots against the Ahmadiyya Movement, a faith marginalized in Pakistan, mainly in the city of Lahore, Pakistan as well as the rest of Punjab, which were eventually quelled by the Pakistan Army ...

. He attended

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...

, and Command and Staff College in

in 1965, and was posted to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

in 1969. He served as inaugural commander of 111 Brigade in

in 1970. Rahimuddin served as Chief Instructor at the Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence College,

, until 1975. Prime Minister

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the four ...

requested Rahimuddin to head the new Atomic Energy Commission and nuclear programme, but was declined. As lieutenant-general, he became Commander II Corps in

in 1976. He was made

by General Zia-ul-Haq on 22 March 1984, a position he served in till 29 March 1987.

Rejection of Kargil plan

As Chairman Joint Chiefs, Rahimuddin was asked to approve the military plan for an offensive in

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in J ...

, Kashmir, in 1986. The plan was authored by Commander I Corps. Both Rahimuddin and Air Chief Marshal Jamal A. Khan rejected it as untenable, citing the harsh conditions, strategy, and concurrent conflict with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in Afghanistan. The plan was later approved by General

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

, leading to the

Kargil war The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...

in 1998.

Extension refusal

Rahimuddin declined an extension of service at superannuation, and retired in 1987. After his retirement on time, Prime Minister

Muhammad Khan Junejo Mohammad Khan Junejo (Urdu: ; Sindhi: ; 18 August 193216 March 1993) was a Pakistani politician and an agriculturist who served as the tenth prime minister of Pakistan, having elected in this capacity in 1985 until being dismissed in 1988. June ...

rejected Zia's proposal of extension for Vice Chief of Staff General

KM Arif General Khalid Mahmud Arif ( ur, 29 December 1930 – 6 March 2020) popularly known as K.M. Arif, was a senior officer of the Pakistan Army, serving as the vice-chief of army staff under President Zia-ul-Haq, who retained the command of th ...

, embarrassing Zia. Arif was replaced by

Mirza Aslam Beg General Mirza Aslam Beg ( ur, ; born 2 August 1931), also known as M. A. Beg, was a Pakistan Army officer, who served as the 3rd Chief of Army Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief of army staff came when his ...

as Vice Chief.

Governor of Balochistan

End of operation and withdrawal

military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations ...

against separatists was commenced in Balochistan by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto led by army chief

Tikka Khan General Tikka Khan ( ur, ٹکا خان; 10 February 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a Pakistan Army general who was the first chief of army staff from 3 March 1972 until retiring on 1 March 1976. Along with Yahya Khan, he is considered a chief ar ...

in 1973, claiming thousands of lives. Rahimuddin was appointed Governor of Balochistan on 16 September 1978. He declared an end to the operation, and announced a general amnesty for fighters willing to give up arms. Army withdrawal was completed by 1979. The Baloch separatist movement came to a standstill. Under Rahimuddin, the Foreign Policy Centre held that "the province's tribal sardars were taken out of the pale of politics for the first time." He was known for a clean reputation during corrupt regimes.

Development

Rahimuddin opened the Sui gas field to provide gas directly to

and other Baloch towns for the first time. Electricity expansion from Quetta to

Loralai Loralai ( ps, لورلايي, ur, ), also known as Bori ( ps, ), is the division headquarter of Loralai Division and district headquarter of Loralai District. It is in the northeast of Balochistan province in Pakistan. It is above sea level. ...

converted vast areas with sub-soil water into fertile ones."Tribal Politics in Balochistan 1947–1990" Conclusion (1990) p. 8 He also consolidated the then-contentious integration of

Gwadar Gwadar (Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2 ...

into Balochistan, notified as a district in 1977. Despite opposition from finance minister

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...

, Rahimuddin heavily promoted large-scale manufacturing and investment in infrastructure, leading to provincial

GDP growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...

rising to the highest in Balochistan's history. Addressing the province's literacy rate, the lowest in the country, he administered the freeing up of resources towards education, created girls' incentive programs, and had several girls' schools built in

Dera Bugti District Dera Bugti (Balochi and Urdu: ) is a district within the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It was established as a separate district in 1983. Administration The district is administratively subdivided into Four sub-divisions, these are: * Pirko ...

. He also oversaw the construction of nuclear test sites in Chaghai where tests were conducted in 1998.

Containment of Afghan refugees

During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

, the Zia regime began aiding the

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and th ...

Afghan mujahideen. Millions of Afghan refugees, believed to be the largest refugee population in the world, crossed over the border into Balochistan and

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

. Under Zia and General

Fazle Haq Lieutenant General Fazle Haq (Pashto/ Urdu language: فضل حق; (10 September 1928 – 3 October 1991)), was a high-ranking general in the Pakistan Army, and the former martial law administrator (MLA) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakis ...

in KP, heroin and weaponry freely entered with the mujahideen. In Balochistan however, Khan detained the mujahideen in

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is ...

military camps and seized their arms. Several fighters were allegedly transported back into Afghanistan by force, criticized by Pakistani human rights agencies. He also restricted refugees to civilian encampments during the war. Pakistan's Balochistan policy became highly unpopular in the eyes of Afghans, but drugs and weapons remained low in the province while becoming widespread in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Al-Zulfikar hijacking

In March 1981, the militant group

Al-Zulfikar Al-Zulfiqar was a Pakistani left-wing Insurgency organization. It was formed in 1979 by Murtaza Bhutto and Shahnawaz Bhutto after their father, then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was deposed in a military coup and exec ...

, led by

Murtaza Bhutto Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto (; 18 September 1954 – 20 September 1996) was a Pakistani politician and leader of al-Zulfiqar, a Pakistani left-wing militant organization. The son of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, he ear ...

, hijacked a

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

airplane from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...

, and shot and killed passenger Captain Tariq Rahim, mistakenly believing him to be the son of General Rahimuddin Khan. The decision to kill Rahim was taken after Murtaza Bhutto consulted

KHAD prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی , nativename_r = , seal = Emblem of the KHAD (1980-1987).svg , seal_width = 100px , seal_caption = KHAD emblem from 1980 to 1987. , formed = , preceding1 = Da Af ...

chief

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیب‌الله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...

Governor of Sindh

Zia dismissed his own government in May 1988. Khan became civilian

Governor of Sindh The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the chief minister and the chief secretary of Si ...

, and governor's rule was imposed after citing emergency. Claiming corruption, Khan began dismissing large numbers of police and civil servants. Khan also launched a brutal police crackdown on land mafia, one of the widest ever in

, criticized by both PPP and the

Zia regime The history of preceding the country's independence in 1947 is shared with that of Afghanistan, India, and Iran. Spanning the western expanse of the Indian subcontinent and the eastern borderlands of the Iranian plateau, the region of prese ...

for its heavy-handed tactics. It was stopped by the government immediately after he resigned. He moved to create separate police forces for the city and the rural areas, but this was also resisted after his resignation for fears of complicating the Sindhi-

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...

relationship. Special

riot control Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest. If a riot is spontaneous and irra ...

officers were trained to cope with ethnic riots, and river and forest police were also set up to battle

dacoity Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...

became acting President after Zia's death in an aircrash on 17 August, and reintroduced the

Chief Minister of Sindh Chief Minister of Sindh (, ur, —), is the elected head of government of Sindh. Syed Murad Ali Shah is a PPP politician and the current Chief Minister of Sindh. The Chief Minister is the head of the provincial government alongside the Chief ...

office. Khan resigned in response to the attempt to limit his gubernatorial powers. Post-retirement, he promoted his former chief of staff

Asif Nawaz General Asif Nawaz Janjua NI(M), HI(M), SBt, psc, (Urdu: ; 3 January 1937 – 8 January 1993) was a senior officer of the Pakistan Army who served as the fourth Chief of Army Staff from 16 August 1991 until his death by Arsenic poisoni ...

for appointment as

Chief of Army Staff Chief of Army Staff or Chief of the Army Staff which is generally abbreviated as COAS is a title commonly used for the appointment held by the most senior staff officer or the chief commander in several nations' armies. * Chief of Army (Australia ...

.Shuja Nawaz (2007). ''Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army and the Wars Within''.

Death

Khan died on 22 August 2022, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

, Pakistan, at the age of 96.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Rahimuddin 1926 births 2022 deaths Baloch Regiment officers Chairmen Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Governors of Balochistan, Pakistan Governors of Sindh Jamia Millia Islamia alumni National Defence University, Pakistan faculty Non-U.S. alumni of the Command and General Staff College Pakistani anti-communists Pakistani generals Pashtun people People from Farrukhabad People of the insurgency in Balochistan People of the Soviet–Afghan War Project-706 people Project-706 Recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz Pakistan Command and Staff College alumni