Sawar Khan (1 December 1924 – 8 November 2023) was a former

four-star general 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 usually ...

of the

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 ...

, twentieth Governor of Punjab from 1978 to 1980 and the first Vice Chief of Army Staff of the

from 1980 to 1984, in the military regime of President

General Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

who simultaneously served as the Chief of Army Staff. After retiring, Khan became the President of the

Northern University, Nowshera The Northern University (NU) is a private non profit university funded by EDR Trust, located in Wattar Walai, Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The inauguration of the university was done by the Former President of Northern University General (R) Sa ...

. Khan died in November 2023, at the age of 99.

Early life and military career

Sawar Khan was born on 1 December 1924 into a

Gujjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

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 ...

family to Chaudhary Khuda Bukhsh, the

Numberdar Numbardar or Lambardar (, , , ) was the village headman responsible for tax collection in the village during the British Raj. They were appointed under the Mahalwari system. Etymology The compound word ''numberdar'' is composed of the English wo ...

Raman, Rawalpindi Raman (Urdu: راماں) is a town in Gujar Khan Tehsil Punjab, Pakistan. Raman is also the chief town of Union Council Raman which is an administrative subdivision of the Tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local ...

. He was commissioned before the

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 ...

of Pakistan in 1947 into the Indian Army's Corps of Artillery. He later opted for Pakistan Army in 1947. As a captain, Sawar became the Instructor Gunnery (IG) at the Artillery School.

General officer

Khan was promoted to Lt. General on 24 March 1976 by General Zia-ul-Haq after he became the Chief of Army Staff superseding five other generals. Sawar Khan who at the time was serving as Adjutant General (AG) at the GHQ was sent as the Commander

XI Corps 11 Corps, 11th Corps, Eleventh Corps, or XI Corps may refer to: * 11th Army Corps (France) * XI Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * XI Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army * ...

, Peshawar, where he replaced the recently superseded Lt. Gen. Majeed Malik. He continued to serve in Peshawar until January 1978 when he was replaced by Lt. Gen.

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- ...

. In 1978, Lt. Gen. Sawar Khan moved to Lahore to take over IV Corps as its Corps Commander. He took over from Lt. Gen. Iqbal Khan who proceeded as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VOAS), a newly created post.

Martial law administrator of Punjab

When Zia imposed martial law, the then Lt. Gen. Sawar Khan was sent as the governor of Punjab province in 1978, in addition to his responsibilities as Commander IV Corps, Lahore. He was part of small coterie of generals under General Zia ul-Haq, who determined the national security policies in the martial regime. The other generals were Lt. Gen. Faiz Ali Chishti (Commander X Corps, Rawalpindi), Lt. Gen. Jehanzeb Arbab (

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 Secretary of Sindh, Chief Secretary ...

and Commander V Corps, Karachi), Lt. Gen. Iqbal Khan (CJCSC), and the other military governors of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan

and

Rahimuddin Khan Rahimuddin Khan (21 July 1926 – 22 August 2022) was a four-star rank 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 from 1984 to 19 ...

. After a two-year stint, he was replaced by Lt. Gen. Ghulam Jilani Khan and promoted to four-star general.

Vice Chief of Army Staff

In March 1980, when the post of the deputy chief of army staff (created by Zia-ul-Haq) was redefined and re-designated as the Vice Chief of Army Staff, General Sawar replaced Lt. Gen. Iqbal Khan. General Sawar was replaced by the Zia's deputy General Khalid Mahmud Arif in March 1984 after completing the four-year term. Sawar was a professional soldier and hailed from the Potohar plateau of north

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, which had been a traditional recruitment area for the British and the Pakistani armies.Pakistan under Zia, 1977–1988 By Shahid Javed Burki Asian Survey, Vol. 28, No. 10 (Oct. 1988), pp. 1082–1100

Early life and military career

General officer

Martial law administrator of Punjab

Vice Chief of Army Staff

Awards and decorations

Foreign Decorations

Notes

References

See also