Tariq Majid

General Tariq Majid NI(M) HI(M) LoH (born 23 August 1950) is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who served as the 13th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 2007 to 2010, the principal and highest-ranking military adviser in the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Prior to this promotion, he was the field operational commander of X Corps, stationed in Rawalpindi.

Tariq Majid was born on 23 August 1950 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

He was educated at Government Islamia College, Civil Lines, Lahore and Government College, Lahore.

Tariq Majid entered in the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, in 1967.

He graduated with a Bachelor's degree from PMA in 1971 and commissioned in the Pakistan Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 28th Light anti-tank weapon Battalion of the Baloch Regiment of Pakistan Army in April 1971.

After participating in the 1971 war, Majid went on to obtain master of science in Joint warfare from the Command and Staff College in Quetta in 1982.

Apart from active military service, Majid has tenured as professor of military and strategic studies at the both military and civilian institutions.

He taught and lectured courses on military science, defense and war studies, and military policy matters at the Department of Strategic and Defense Studies of the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

As a junior officer, Tariq Majid participated in the 1971 war and commanded a light anti-tank platoon against the Indian Army during the conflict.

After the war, he would later on served in the academic institutions of Pakistan military on deputation.

In 1985, he was sent to attend the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College in Kuala Lumpur where he did specialization on staff courses.

From 1985 and onward, Majid went to United States and joined the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. as a research associate.

On promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1988, he commanded the Infantry battalion in which he was originally commissioned; in 1991, he also commanded another Infantry battalion.

Majid also holds another master's degree in War studies from the National Defence University in Islamabad, which he was conferred in 1991 after submitting his thesis to the university board.

After his studies, he assumed the full professorship of war studies at the National Defence University and also taught strategic studies course at the Quaid-i-Azam University.

In February 1994, he was promoted to one star rank, Brigadier and commanded two Infantry Brigades as General Staff Officer-1 (GSO-1).

On elevation to the two-star rank of Major-General in February 1999, he was appointed General Officer Commanding of 10th Infantry Division, stationed at Lahore.

Tariq Majid served in the major staff and command appointments in the Pakistan military.

Upon promoting to brigadier, he was appointed as the General Staff Officer Grade-1 at the Directorate-General for Military Operations (DGMO).

During his military career, he accepted the professorship in the military institutions, and briefly taught courses on military tactics at the School School of Infantry and Tactics (SC&T), and topics in strategic studies at the Command and Staff College in Quetta.

As a Brigadier, he was appointed Director Military Operations (Plans) in the Military Operations Directorate at General Headquarters and Deputy Commandant of Pakistan Military Academy.

In April 2001, he was appointed as director-general of Military Intelligence (DGMI) which he held until December 2003.

His other commanding staff assignments includes the Chief of General Staff (CGS) from 2003 to 2006 and Director General of the Military Intelligence (DGMI) from 2000 to 2003, all premier staff commands of the Pakistan Army.

He was succeeded as chairman joint chiefs by another four-star rank general officer General Khalid Shameem Wynne.

On 19 December 2003, Major-General Tariq Majid's promotion on three-star rank, Lieutenant-General, and appointed to the post of Chief of General Staff, in place of Lieutenant-General Shahid Aziz, who proceeded as the corps commander Lahore.

The post of chief of general staff is important in a sense that it heads the important military bureaus of Military Intelligence (MI) and Military Operations.

Tariq Majid's stint as the X Corps commander was eventful as it featured the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the following mass protests, and the Operation Silence.

In the latter occasion, he took over the planning of the Red mosque operation that was done on the direct instructions of the ousted President Pervez Musharraf.

According to media reports, the warnings of DGMO and MI were bypassed by President Musharraf and issued "direct" orders to commander of X Corps Lieutenant-General Tariq Majid.

However, his critics made some allegations that Majid, being one of the confident, was thoroughly briefed of the Lal Masjid siege.

Soon, he gained significant publicity from this event, and was soon predicted by the media and the analysts to be promoted to the four-star assignments of either vice chief of army staff or chairman joint chiefs.

These predictions were true, when in October 2007, he was made the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

Upon General P. Musharraf's retirement from the army, Majid's appointment to four star rank was highly speculated in the media and military science circles.

As early as in August and the following month, Majid was initially in the race to be appointed as chief of army staff.

In military science circles, Majid was known to be a professional soldier and though, his closeness to Musharraf become a liability in country's political science circles.

On 3 October 2007, the media in Pakistan announced that Lieutenant-General Tariq Majid was promoted to four-star rank, and his nomination to succeed general Ehsan-ul-Haq was already approved by President Musharraf.

On 8 October 2007, he was sworn as chairman joint chiefs and took over the operations of Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ).

Upon taking the JS HQ secretariat, Majid became the only officer from the Baloch Regiment after Rahimuddin Khan to ascend to chairman joint chiefs.

At the time of promotion, Tariq Majid was fourth on the seniority list.