Akhtar Abdur Rahman

Akhtar Abdur Rahman (11 June 1924 – 17 August 1988), was a Pakistan Army general who served as the 5th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987 until his death in 1988.

Akhtar Abdur Rahman was born on 11 June 1924 in Peshawar, to a Kakazai Pashtun family.

Akhtar's father, Abdur Rahman Khan, was a doctor at a government hospital over here.

He lost his father at the tender age of four and was raised by his mother, after the family moved to East Punjab in British India.

When the Soviet Union deployed its 40th Army in Afghanistan, Pakistan's top military base led by Akhtar, believed that Pakistan would be the Soviet Union's next target.

They felt that because of Pakistan's strategic location and given the fact that it had warm water ports in the Arabian Sea, it was a prime target for future invasion.

Considering the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan threatened Pakistan's national security, Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, the ISI, headed by General Akhtar, started providing financial, military, and strategic assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen.

The ISI received billions of dollars in military assistance from the CIA and Saudi Arabia, to train and command the Afghan rebels in a bid to defeat the Soviets.

This covert operation was known as Operation Cyclone, and was executed with the CIA, providing the money and weapons, the ISI training, commanding the Afghan Mujahideen groups, and the Mujahideen conducting guerrilla warfare, ultimately leading to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During this time, General Akhtar developed a highly effective working relationship with key figures in the United States including CIA Director William Casey and Congressman Charlie Wilson.

He studied at the Bishop Cotton School, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, India, before enrolling himself in the Government College University (Faisalabad) in 1941, subsequently earning a bachelor's degree in Science and Statistics in 1945, followed by a Master of Science in Economics in 1947.

He also helped in capturing the Indian fortress of Qaiser-e-Hind.

General Akhtar Abdur Rahman joined the British Indian Army in 1946, before becoming Captain in the Pakistan Army three years later.

After witnessing traumatic events during the partition, Abdur Rahman was appointed as an instructor at the Artillery School in Nowshera.

Later, he was selected for an infantry training course with the British Army, and was sent on deputation to complete a course in the United Kingdom.

Upon returning to Pakistan, he was promoted to the rank of a major and posted as a military adviser to the East-Pakistan Army from April 1954 to October 1954.

He was later transferred back to General combatant headquarters (GHQ) as a staff officer, a position he held from April 1956 to February 1957.

During both Indo Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, he oversaw action with his own unit 45 Field Regiment Artillery (Fateh Qasar-i- Hind 1971) in Sundra and Hussainiwala sectors respectively.

As the DG ISI, General Akhtar collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency and masterminded the resistance network of the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet Union, eventually managing to force the Soviets out of Afghanistan.

Due to his close friendship with President of Pakistan General Zia-ul-Haq, General Akhtar was widely considered to be the second most powerful man in the country during General Zia's eleven-year military dictatorship.

He died in a plane crash which also killed General Zia and the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel.

After his death, his sons, Humayun Akhtar Khan and Haroon Akhtar Khan, became politicians and were eventually elected as the Members of Parliament and headed the key ministerial portfolios several times.

He actively participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and was appointed at IV Corps as an operational field officer.

In the 1965 war, he gallantly defended the Lahore sector, which led to him being promoted to lieutenant-colonel, but he remained second-in-command of the artillery regiment in Lahore.

After cease fire in September 1965, newly promoted Lt Colonel Akhtar commanded his unit 45 Field Regiment Artillery and moved it to Pakistani occupied territory of war in Sundra Sector where his unit 45 Field Artillery remained deployed till February 1966.

After the war, he was promoted to the rank of colonel, while being stationed with the IV Corps.

Later, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier and transferred to the northern areas of the country, where he commanded an infantry brigade in Azad Kashmir.

In 1971 Indo Pak War, just before his promotion to a Major General, he again saw his own 45 Field Regiment Artillery in action at Hussainiwala Sector where 45 Field displayed tremendous valour in achieveing a bold victory over Qasar-i-Hind Citadel.

His unit 45 Field Regiment Artillery was later awarded battle honor of 'Fateh Qasar -i- Hind 1971' by Army Headquarters.

He did not take part in the 1977 military coup and privately opposed the martial law to remove the Prime minister Bhutto.

Six months after the military coup of 1977, he was appointed as the adjutant general at the General Headquarters, which would last two years.

During this time, General Akhtar became aware of a conspiracy in which Lieutenant-General Faiz Ali Chishti of X Corps, a close associate of General Zia-ul-Haq, secretly became rebellious and conspired to stage a military coup in the country.

He previously served as the 7th Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence from 1979 to 1987.

As early as of 1979, Akhtar received a call from General Chishti and met him at his office in Chaklala Military District (CMD).

At this meeting, General Chishti informed him of the conspiracy that aimed to topple General Zia-ul-Haq and sought his assistance.

According to the News International's intelligence unit, Chishti was under the impression that since Akhtar had not been promoted, he would accept this invitation; especially when he was promised that after the coup worked out successfully, he would not only be promoted but would also become one of the pillars of the new regime.

After returning to the GHQ, General Akhtar contacted General Zia-ul-Haq and foiled the plot against Zia.

In June 1979 after the counter-coup had been foiled, President General Zia-ul-Haq awarded General Akhtar a promotion to Lieutenant General and appointed him Director General of the ISI.

Later he was promoted to the two-star general rank of a major-general, and served as the general officer commanding (GOC) of the 12th Infantry Division stationed in Murree.

As the GOC of the 12th Infantry Division, General Akhtar was considered very close to Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and personally received him whenever he visited the command office of the 12th Division.