Asghar Khan

Asghar Khan
File:Marshallportrait.jpg Air Marshal Asghar Khan
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service / branch	Pakistan Air Force
Years of service	1940 – 1965
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands	No. 9 Squadron, Indian Air Force Pakistan Air Force Academy No. 1 Group, Peshawar Chief of Operations Chief of Administration Commander-in-Chief Pakistan Air Force
Battles / wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
Relations	Omar Asghar Khan (Son)
Other work	MD Pakistan International Airlines Chairman Pakistan Tehrik-e-Istaqlaal

Asghar Khan (Template:Lang-ur) (born 17 January, 1921) is a Pakistani politician. At the age of 36 he served as the youngest head of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Later on he was appointed as the head of the National flag carrier PIA (Pakistan International Airlines). He is considered an honest politician who did not achieve all his political goals due to the principled stands that he took. His long career in the Airforce, running PIA and in politics spanned many of the key moments in Pakistan's history. He is also the author of half a dozen books. During his long political career which included imprisonment, he was adopted as a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International and was awarded the Gold Medal by the Pakistan Society of Human Rights. He has also been awarded the Jinnah Award by the Jinnah Society for outstanding services to the cause of democracy and for upholding the values and principles of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Early life

Air Marshal Mohd Asghar Khan was born in Jammu, Kashmir on 17 January, 1921. One of eleven siblings, he is the son of a Pashtun, Brigadier Thakur Rahmatullah Khan Bahadur, whose family moved from Tirah (a Pashtun tribal region) to Kashmir; Brig Rahmatullah Khan was PoW during World War I, and also served in World War II. Asghar Khan was educated at the Doon School, and the Prince of Wales's Royal Indian Military College, Dehradun. He joined the Indian Military Academy in 1939, was commissioned in the Royal Deccan Horse and seconded to the Royal Indian Air Force in 30 November, 1940. He commanded a Flight of No. 9 Squadron Royal Indian Air Force in Burma in 1944 and 45 and took part in Air Operations against the Japanese.

Much of the family moved from Kashmir to Abbottabad in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province during partition.

Career in the Air Force

Asghar Khan was originally an Army Officer in the British Indian Army. At the outbreak of the war, when the Indian Air Force embarked on its expansion, a number of Army Officers transferred to the IAF. Asghar Khan was one of them and he was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on 30 November, 1940. He was one of the senior most officers in the IAF as can be asserted by the fact his Commission number was within the first 100.

His early career in the IAF is not known but he was one of the first Indian Officers to be given command of a Squadron. He took over command of No. 9 Squadron in 1945. Asghar's attachment with the Squadron was so much that at the time of Partition, when the assets of the Royal Indian Air Force were divided between India and Pakistan, he insisted that No.9 Squadron be given to Pakistan.

After his command of No.9 Squadron, Asghar undertook a staff course in the UK in 1946 and became one of the first to fly a jet fighter - a Gloster Meteor fighter bomber.

Career after partition

After the partition of British India in 1947 he became the first Muslim commandant of the Royal Pakistan Airforce College at Risalpur. In the RPAF his prominent assignment before becoming the C-in-C at the young age of 36, included the first command of what is now the PAF Academy, a tenure as Group Commander at Peshawar and separate tours at Air Headquarters as head of the operations branch and of the admin branch. In between he gained a joint services staff college qualification as well as one at the Imperial Defence College in London.

Prominent among the major units he established during his tenure were the Fighter Leaders School, the PAF Staff College and the College of Aeronautical Engineering. He also instituted the Inspectorate and initiated the tradition of regular air staff presentations.

After independence Khan became Pakistan's first Air Chief and also its youngest at the age of 36. He held the position of Air Chief for over 8 years (1957-65) during which the PAF underwent all its expansion, re-equipping, and training programs. Khan, who retired on July 23, 1965 i.e. six weeks before the 1965 Indo-Pak War, was not even informed nor consulted before the launch of the Operation Gibraltar.

Asghar Khan squarely blamed Pakistan for the 1965 and 1971 wars and strongly opposed the war with India over the Bangladesh issue in 1971 but is still known as one of the most respected leaders the country had.

Political Career (1972-1978)

During Bhutto's rule from 1971 to 1977, Air Marshal Asghar Khan played a major role in opposition to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, there was a deep dislike between the two men. Asghar Khan is known to have refused Bhutto's offer to join the former in running the country because he disagreed with and questioned his principles. During the 1977 elections, Asghar Khan allied his party with the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) against the People's Party. It was during this period he and his party faced frequent attacks by Pakistan Peoples Party supporters and from the brutal paramilitary Federal Security Force. Contesting two seats one from Karachi and the other from Abbotabad, despite alleged rigging by the ppp, Asghar Khan was elected by a huge margin from both seats defeating PPP candidate Kamaluddin Azfar from Karachi and the other seat of Abbottabad. The PNA rejected the election results as rigged and launched a Nationwide agitation against the results. It was during this time that Asghar Khan wrote a much criticised letter to the chiefs of staff and the officers of the defence forces, asking them to renounce their support for the "illegal (Z A Bhutto's) regime" and asked to "differentiate between a 'lawful' and an 'unlawful' command...and save Pakistan." This letter is considered by many democrats and political writers as instrumental in encouraging the advent of the Zia regime. After the overthrow of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government by the Army in the summer of 1978 Asghar Khan was offered a cabinet post by Zia Ul Haq, Asghar Khan refused to join the cabinet and also withdrew from the PNA after a growing split between the various parties.

Political Career (1978-1999)

When General Zia announced to hold the general elections in 1979 Air Marshal's Tehrik-e-Istiqlal became the most favorite party and was in position to grab the power through winning these elections. A huge number of big political figures of current politics were members of Tehrik-e-Istiqlal including Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Aitzaz Ahsan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Javed Hashmi, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Mehnaz Rafi, Raja Nadir Pervez, Gohar Ayub Khan, Nisar Khoro, Nafees Siddiqui, Ashraf Liaqat Ali Khan, Zafar Ali Shah, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Sher Afgan Niazi, Manzoor Wattoo, Musheer Pesh Imam, Syeda Abida Hussain, Syed Fakhar Imam and many others. But at the last movement Gen. Zia postponed the elections and Asghar Khan remained in house arrest for more than five years. Asghar Khan joined the newly formed Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in 1983 and was detained by the government. In 1986, Asghar Khan left the MRD, as a result of which many of the Tehrik's members resigned in protest. The Air Marshal boycotted the 1985 non-party elections but took part in the 1988 elections from the platform of newly formed Pakistan Awami Ittehad (Pakistan People's Alliance) but this Alliance was defeated. Opposing the government of Nawaz Sharif, Asghar Khan led his party to join the People's Democratic Alliance. Contesting in 1990 from Lahore, Asghar Khan once again faced defeat. Briefly retiring from active politics in the late 1990s his party faced another one of its many splits.

Political Career (1999-)

His son Omar Asghar Khan served as Federal minister in Pervaiz Musharraf's government. After his resignation from the cabinet to contest the 2002 elections he took over Tehrik-e-Istiqlal from his father. He subsequently merged it with assorted other non governmental groups and formed a new party called Qaumi Jamhoori Party, an event which caused another split in the party. The party suffered a shock with Omar Asghar's sudden mysterious death prior to the elections. After the elections on the insistence of party workers, Asghar Khan was elected party leader of the NJP.

External links

• Bio of Air Marshal Asghar Khan
• Biography of Asghar Khan