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Akhtar Abdur Rahman | |
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| 5thChairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee | |
| In office 29 March 1987 – 17 August 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Rahimuddin Khan |
| Succeeded by | Iftikhar Ahmed Sirohey |
| 12thDirector-General of Inter-Services Intelligence | |
| In office April 1979 – 29 March 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Muhammad Riaz Khan |
| Succeeded by | Hamid Gul |
| Adjutant general GHQ | |
| In office 1977–1979 | |
| General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the12th Infantry Division | |
| In office 1974–1977 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 June 1924 |
| Died | 17 August 1988(1988-08-17) (aged 64) |
| Cause of death | Plane crash |
| Spouse | Rashida Akhtar Khan (m. 1951–1988) |
| Children | Akbar Akhtar Khan,Humayun Akhtar Khan,Haroon Akhtar Khan, Ghazi Akhtar Khan |
| Alma mater | Government College University Faisalabad |
| Occupation | General, Army Officer,Soldier |
| Civilian awards | Sitara-e-Basalat |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Branch/service |  Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1947–1988[2] |
| Rank |  General |
| Unit | 24 Medium Regiment Artillery (Zarb ul Awwal) |
| Commands | 24 Medium Regiment Artillery (Zarb ul Awwal), Artillery Headquarters of 4 Corps,GOC12th Army Division,Murree DGInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistan War of 1947 Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 Soviet–Afghan War |
| Military awards |  Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Basalat Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military) |
Akhtar Abdur Rahman[a] (11 June 1924 – 17 August 1988) was aPakistan Armygeneral who served as the 5thChairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987 untilhis death in 1988. He previously served as the 12thDirector-General of Inter-Services Intelligence from 1979 to 1987. During both Indo Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, he oversaw action with his own unit 24 Medium Regiment Artillery (Zarb ul Awwal) in Burki and Chambb sectors respectively.
As the DGISI, General Akhtar collaborated with theCentral Intelligence Agency and masterminded theresistance network of theAfghan Mujahideen against theSoviet Union, eventually managing to force the Soviets out ofAfghanistan. Due to his close friendship withPresident of PakistanGeneral Zia-ul-Haq, General Akhtar was widely considered to be the second most powerful man in the country duringGeneral Zia's eleven-year militarydictatorship. Hedied in a plane crash which also killedGeneral Zia and theUS Ambassador to Pakistan,Arnold Lewis Raphel. After his death, his sons,Humayun Akhtar Khan andHaroon Akhtar Khan, became politicians and were eventually elected as theMembers of Parliament and headed the key ministerial portfolios several times.[2][3]
Akhtar Abdur Rahman was born on 11 June 1924 inPeshawar, to aKakazaiPashtun family.[4][2][5] Akhtar's father, Abdur Rahman Khan, was a doctor at a government hospital over here.[1] He lost his father at the age of four and was raised by his mother, after the family moved toEast Punjab in British India. He studied at theBishop Cotton School, Shimla inHimachal Pradesh,India,[6] before enrolling himself in theGovernment College University (Faisalabad) in 1941, subsequently earning a bachelor's degree inScience andStatistics[2] in 1945, followed by aMaster of Science inEconomics in 1947.[7]
General Akhtar Abdur Rahman joined theBritish Indian Army in 1946, before becomingCaptain in thePakistan Army three years later.[7] After witnessing traumatic events during thepartition, Abdur Rahman was appointed as an instructor at the Artillery School inNowshera. Later, he was selected for an infantry training course with theBritish Army, and was sent on deputation to complete a course in theUnited Kingdom.[7] Upon returning to Pakistan, he was promoted to the rank of amajor and posted as amilitary adviser to theEast Pakistan Rifles from April 1954 to October 1954.[7][8] He was later transferred back toGeneral Headquarters (GHQ) as astaff officer, a position he held from April 1956 to February 1957.[7] He actively participated in theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965 and was appointed atIV Corps as an operational field officer.[7] In the 1965 war, he gallantly defended the Lahore sector, which led to him being promoted tolieutenant-colonel, but he remainedsecond-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.[7] After the war, he was promoted to the rank ofcolonel, while being stationed with the IV Corps. Later, he was promoted to the rank ofbrigadier and transferred to thenorthern areas of the country, where he commanded an infantry brigade inAzad Kashmir.[7]
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 achieving 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, as he was instrumental in capturing the Indian fortress of Qaiser-e-Hind.[9] Later he was promoted to the two-star general rank of amajor-general, and served as thegeneral officer commanding (GOC) of the12th Infantry Division stationed inMurree. As the GOC of the 12th Infantry Division, General Akhtar was considered very close to Prime MinisterZulfiqar Ali Bhutto and personally received him whenever he visited the command office of the 12th Division.[10][11] He did not take part in the1977 military coup and privately opposed the martial law to remove thePrime minister Bhutto. Six months after the military coup of 1977, he was appointed as theadjutant general at theGeneral Headquarters, which would last two years.[7] During this time, General Akhtar became aware of a conspiracy in which Lieutenant-General Faiz Ali Chishti ofX Corps, a close associate of GeneralZia-ul-Haq, secretly became rebellious and conspired to stage a military coup in the country.[7] As early as of 1979, Akhtar received a call from General Chishti and met him at his office inChaklala Military District (CMD).[7] At this meeting, General Chishti informed him of the conspiracy that aimed to topple General Zia-ul-Haq and sought his assistance. According to theNews 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.[7] After returning to the GHQ, General Akhtar contacted GeneralZia-ul-Haq and foiled the plot against Zia.[7] In June 1979 after the counter-coup had been foiled,President General Zia-ul-Haq awarded General Akhtar a promotion toLieutenant General and appointed him Director General of theISI.[7]
When the Soviet Union deployed its 40th Army in Afghanistan, Pakistan's top military base led by Akhtar, believed thatPakistan would be theSoviet Union's next target. They felt that because of Pakistan's strategic location and given the fact that it had warm water ports in theArabian Sea, it was a prime target for future invasion. Considering theSoviet invasion ofAfghanistan threatened Pakistan's national security, Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, theISI, headed by General Akhtar, started providing financial, military, and strategic assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen. TheISI received billions of dollars in military assistance from theCIA andSaudi Arabia, to train and command the Afghan rebels in a bid to defeat the Soviets. This covert operation was known asOperation Cyclone, and was executed with theCIA, providing the money and weapons, the ISI training, commanding the Afghan Mujahideen groups, and the Mujahideen conductingguerrilla 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 includingCIA DirectorWilliam Casey andCongressmanCharlie Wilson.
While he was still DG ISI, General Akhtar's influence on Pakistan'satomic weapons program grew and he worked tirelessly to collect colleagues around him who were equally dynamic and determined to make the ISI an organization that would influence the domestic and external policies of the country. It was under him that the ISI became recognized as one of the most powerful spy agencies in the world.[7] In 1987, at the pinnacle of his career after having achieved remarkable success in the Afghan war and protecting Pakistan's Nuclear Program, General Akhtar was promoted to thefour-star rank and was appointedChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the highest ranking four-star rank in thePakistan Armed Forces.[7]
On 17 August 1988, General Akhtar Abdur Rahman died in aplane crash along with several other high-profile generals includingZia-ul-Haq, the sixth and current president of Pakistan at the time, and theUS Ambassador to Pakistan,Arnold Lewis Raphel. General Akhtar had accompanied Zia toBahawalpur in hisC-130B Hercules presidential aircraft jet, to witness aUS M1 Abrams tank demonstration. After the generals witnessed the demonstration, it was time to leave. The aircraft departed from Bahawalpur Airport and was expected to reachIslamabad International Airport after a few hours. Takeoff was smooth, but shortly after, about2+1⁄2 minutes into the flight, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses who saw the plane in the air claimed that it was flying erratically and that it nosedived and exploded on impact, killing all 31 passengers on board. Shortly after the plane crash, the senate chairman,Ghulam Ishaq Khan, became president and announced General Zia's death on radio and TV. [113] There is speculation that various state intelligence agencies including the American CIA, the SovietKGB, the IndianRAW, the IsraeliMOSSAD and the AfghanKHAD (in retaliation of Pakistani support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan), or an alliance of the four intelligence agencies along with the dissident groups in the Pakistan Army, were involved in the incident.
Not long after, a board of inquiry was set up to investigate. It concluded 'the most probable cause of the crash was a criminal act of sabotage perpetrated in the aircraft'. It also suggested that poisonous gases were released that incapacitated the passengers and crew, which explains why no Mayday signal was given.[116] There was also speculations about other facts involving the details of the investigation. Although a flight recorder (black box) was installed in the aircraft, it was not located after the crash. To this day, the cause of the plane crash remains unknown and has given a rise to many conspiracy theories.
General Akhtar married Rashida Akhtar Khan in 1951 and had four children: Akbar Akhtar Khan (born 1953),Humayun Akhtar Khan (born 1955),Haroon Akhtar Khan (born 1957), and Ghazi Akhtar Khan (born 1959).
In one of theNew York Times investigations,[12] General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, as the head of Pakistani intelligence agency, helped funnel billions of dollars in cash and other aid from the United States and other countries for the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, to support their fight against the Soviet Union. The same report mentioned that aCredit Suisse account was opened in 1985, in the name of three of General Abdur Rahman's sons. Years later, the account would grow to hold $3.7 million, as what the leaked records show. According to the paper, two of the general's sons, Akbar Akhtar Khan, the oldest of General Akhtar's children, andHaroon Akhtar Khan, did not respond to the requests for comment on the reporting project. In a text message, Ghazi Akhtar Khan, the youngest of the Akhtar brothers, said the information about the accounts was "not correct," adding, "The content is conjectural." The claims remain unproven.
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| Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Order of Excellence) | |||
| Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) | Sitara-e-Basalat (Star of Good Conduct) | Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) | Tamgha-e-Diffa (General Service Medal) |
| Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War (War Star 1965) | Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War (War Star 1971) | Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War (War Medal 1965) | Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War (War Medal 1971) |
| Pakistan Tamgha (Pakistan Medal)1947 | Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e- (100th Birth Anniversary of | Tamgha-e-Jamhuria (Republic Commemoration Medal) 1956 | Hijri Tamgha (Hijri Medal) 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Director General of theInter-Services Intelligence 1979–1987 | Succeeded by |
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