Mirza Aslam Beg

General Mirza Aslam Beg (born 2 August 1931) NI(M) HI(M) SBt LoM, also known as M. A. Beg, is a retired Pakistani four-star general who served as the third Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 1988 until his retirement in 1991.

Mirza Aslam Beg was born in the small village, Muslimpatti, in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh in British India, to the Urdu-speaking Muhajir family that was well known for its Mughal nobility, on 2 August 1931.

His father, Mirza Murtaza Beg, was an advocate and practicing lawyer who had held a well known prestige and respected name in the law circles of the Allahabad High Court.

He was educated at the Azamgarh where he graduated from a local high school and enrolled at the Shibli National College for his undergraduate studies, in 1945.

Subsequently, he earned Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Liberal Arts from Shibli National College in 1949.

During his college years, Mirza played collegiate field hockey and was vital member of his hockey team which consisted mainly Muslims.

According to his memories, Beg sought revenge on a Hindu politician belonging to Congress Party after the politician had beaten up a member of his hockey team.

Egged on by a mob of students, Beg used his hockey stick to beat up the politician at a public meeting.

This incident came after his graduation from college in 1949, and Beg's family decided to move to Pakistan in 1949 after the Indian partition in 1947.

The Beg family set sailed for Karachi from Bombay via Royal Pakistan Navy ship in 1949.

His elder brother was already a commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army and encouraged young Beg to follow his path to seek a career in the army.

Beg recalled his memoirs to his Indian interviewer and called Pakistan as "my dream country".

In 1950, Beg was accepted at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, graduating from a class of 6th PMA Long Course in 1952.

In 1952, he gained a commission as 2Lt. in the 6 Baloch Regiment of the Pakistan Army and initially assisted the command of an infantry platoon.

From 1952 to 1958, he progressed well toward the military ranks, having been promoted to army lieutenant in 1956; and army captain in 1958.

He received recommendations from his field commanding officer for the selection by the special branch to join the special forces, and departed to the United States in 1958 to complete the special forces training with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In 1960, Major Beg returned to Pakistan and joined the elite Army Special Service Group (SSG), initially commanding a company that specialized in military infiltration.

Major Beg was deployed in Western Pakistan, in areas adjacent to Afghanistan, where his first combat experience took place when he led his company in removing the Nawab of Dir in Chitral in North-West Frontier Province.

In 1965, Major Beg served well in the second war with India and led the Special Forces team against the Indian Army.

In 1967, Major Beg was promoted as Lieutenant-Colonel, eventually sent to attend the National Defence University (NDU) to continue his higher education, alongside then-Lieutenant-Colonel Zahid Ali Akbar, an engineering officer from the Corps of Engineers.

After attending the Armed Forces War College and graduated with MSc in Strategic studies in 1971, Lt.Col. Beg was stationed in East-Pakistan to serve as a military adviser to the Eastern Command led by its GOC-in-C, Lieutenant-General A.A.K. Niazi.

Upon arriving and observing the military deployments and actions, Lt.Col.

Beg became very critical of Gen. Niazi's strategy and eventually became involved in acrimonious argument with his Gen. Niazi's staff in Dacca, having been very critical of armed forces interference in the political events in East.

His open mindedness and arguments with his senior officer eventually led his transfer back to Pakistan and was threatened with facing the court martial.

In 1971, he commanded an infantry regiment in third war with India but was sent back to attend the National Defence University where he became even more involved with his studies.

In 1971–72, he earned his MSc in War Studies, defending and publishing his thesis, entitled: "A journey of pain and fear" which provide critical analysis of state sponsored terrorism and its effects on geo-military positions of the countries.

About the 1971 war, Beg maintained that the Pakistan Armed Forces "learned a valuable strategic lesson", and that quoted that the government also learned that "there is no point in going to war unless you are absolutely certain you have the capability to win".

Lt. Col. Beg left the special forces, and accepted the professorship on war studies at the NDU in 1975.

Brig. Beg tenured as the professor on the war studies and remained Chief Instructor of Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence University until January 1978.

In 1978, Brig. Beg left the professorship at the university and was promoted into the two-star command appointment in the army.

His appointment as chief of army staff came when his predecessor, President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, died in an air crash on 17 August 1988.

Beg's tenure witnessed Benazir Bhutto being elected Prime Minister in November 1988, and the restoration of democracy and the civilian control of the military in the country.

Controversial accusations were leveled against him of financing the Islamic Democracy Alliance (IDA), the conservative and right-wing opposition alliance against left-wing PPP, and rigging subsequent general elections in 1990.

As a result of general elections, Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister in 1990, but fell out with Beg when the latter recommended support for Iraq during the Gulf War.

Beg was denied an extension from President Ghulam Ishaq Khan soon after in 1991, and replaced by General Asif Nawaz as chief of army staff.

Apart from his military career, Beg briefly tenured as professor of security studies at the National Defence University (NDU) and regularly writes columns in The Nation.

From 1994 to 1999, Beg continued his teaching at NDU and published his two books on national security, nuclear weapons development, defence diplomacy and international relations.

Beg's post-retirement has been characterized by controversies: first, Beg was accused of playing an internal role in the airplane crash that killed President Zia, and, second, he was summoned to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2012 for his alleged role in releasing the financial funding to the conservative politicians as opposed to the Pakistan Peoples Party's politicians during the general elections held in 1990.

Major-General Beg was appointed as the GOC of the 14th Army Division, stationed at the Okara Military District of Punjab Province in Pakistan.

The Baig's family had traced a long ancestral roots of the Mughal royal family who once were emperors of India from the early 15th century to the early 18th century.