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

four-star rank Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usual ...

Pakistani general who briefly served as the 16th Governor of Sindh in 1988. Previously, he had served as the fourth

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) 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 (PSO) an ...

from 1984 to 1987 and the seventh Governor of Balochistan from 1978 to 1984. He was a member of a secret five-person committee, which consisted of General's Akhtar Abdur Rahman,

Fazle Haq Fazle Haq (Pashto/ ; 10 September 1928 – 3 October 1991), was a three-star rank general in the Pakistan Army who became the martial law administrator (MLA) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan during military dictatorial rule of Zia- ...

, and

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Sahabzada Yaqub Khan Sahabzada Mohammad Yaqub Ali Khan ( ; 23 December 1920 – 26 January 2016) was a Pakistani politician, diplomat, military figure, linguist, and a retired general in the Pakistani Army. After the Partition of India in 1947, he opted for Pa ...

, that determined the allocation of weapons among competing Afghan rebel factions during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. After the

Partition of British India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan is the Islam ...

, Rahimuddin enrolled as the first cadet of the

Pakistan Military Academy Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) is a military academy located nearby Kakul village in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Established in October 1947, it is the only service academy in Pakistan that trains cadets to serve as army of ...

. As a captain, Rahimmuddin was part of the martial law administration which took over during the

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

. He later commanded 111 Brigade in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

and II Corps in

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

. As Chairman Joint Chiefs, he rejected the future

military plan A military operation plan (commonly called a war plan before World War II) is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organizations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process ...

for the Kargil Conflict. 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 Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

, including the opening of Sui gas fields to

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 ...

, the construction of

nuclear test sites Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

in Chaghai, and the halting of the Baloch insurgency. He was credited with financial honesty, but suppressed

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

entering the province during the

Soviet war in Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Khan 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 Kaimganj, 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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, to a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Pathan Afridi family, with roots in

Kohat Kohat (; ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century. With a population o ...

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

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) 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, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

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

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

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 b ...

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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. He opted for Pakistan during

independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

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

. 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 ...

at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 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. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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 Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

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

for an offensive in

Kargil Kargil or Kargyil is a City in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tert ...

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, 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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in Afghanistan. The plan was later approved by General

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

, leading to the

Kargil war The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

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 (18 August 1932 18 March 1993) was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1985 to 1988 under president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. During his tenure as prime minister he sou ...

rejected Zia's proposal of extension for Vice Chief of Staff General KM Arif, embarrassing Zia. Arif was replaced by Mirza Aslam Beg as Vice Chief.

Governor of Balochistan

End of operation and withdrawal

military operation A military operation (op) 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. Operati ...

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

Tikka Khan Tikka Khan, also known as the Butcher of Bengal.Tikka Khan title: * * * * * * * * (; 10 February 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a Pakistani military officer and war criminal who served as the first Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan), chief of the a ...

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 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 (, ) is a Port, port city on the southwestern coast of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, opposite Oman and has a populati ...

into Balochistan, notified as a district in 1977. Despite opposition from finance minister Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Rahimuddin heavily promoted large-scale manufacturing and investment in infrastructure, leading to provincial

GDP growth Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

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

Al-Zulfikar hijacking

In March 1981, the militant group Al-Zulfikar, led by Murtaza Bhutto, hijacked a

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines, commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier of Pakistan. With its primary hub at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the airline also operates from its secondary hubs at Allama Iqbal International Airport ...

airplane from

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, 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 The ''Khadamat-e Aetla'at-e Dawlati'' (Pashto/ literally "State Intelligence Agency", also known as "State Information Services" or "Committee of State Security"), better known by the acronym KhAD, was the agency in charge of internal security, ...

chief

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

Governor of Sindh

Zia dismissed his own government in May 1988. Khan became civilian Governor of Sindh, 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 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 relationship. Special

riot control Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...

officers were trained to cope with ethnic riots, and river and forest police were also set up to battle dacoity. Ghulam Ishaq Khan became acting President after Zia's death in an aircrash on 17 August, and reintroduced the

Chief Minister of Sindh The chief minister of Sindh (, —), is the elected head of government of Sindh and serves alongside the Chief Secretary. Murad Ali Shah is the current Chief Minister of Sindh, serving since 26 February 2024. The chief minister is the head of ...

office. Khan resigned in response to the attempt to limit his gubernatorial powers. Post-retirement, he promoted his former chief of staff Asif Nawaz for appointment as Chief of Army Staff.Shuja Nawaz (2007). ''Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army and the Wars Within''.

Death

Khan died on 22 August 2022, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan, at the age of 96.

Notes

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 Academic staff of the National Defence University, Pakistan 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 Politicians from Balochistan, Pakistan Indian emigrants to Pakistan