Jehangir Karamat
Encyclopedia
General Jehangir Karamat, (Urdu
: جہانگیر کرامت; born 20 February 1941) NI(M), TBt, afwc, psc, fsc(u), is a retired four-star general and a renowned military scientist who served as the former Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army
from January 1996 to October 1998, and then former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
from November 2004 to June 2006. He is also one of very few Army generals in the military history of Pakistan to have resigned over a disagreement with the civilian authorities.
, Kakul, where he received his B.Sc.
Military science
when the specialization in Civil-military relations
in 1961. Karamat gained commissioned in the Pakistan Army as a Second Lieutenant
in the 13th Lancers cavalry regiment, a equivalent of United States Army
Armored Corps's battalion. He is the class of 24th PMA Long Course before joining the Armoured Army Corps on 14 October 1961. As Lieutenant
, he then served in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 where he commanded a platoon, and as Major
, Karamat commanded a Tank company in Indo-Pakistani Winter War of 1971
. After the war, Karamat went on to attend premier military institutions for higher education where he specialized in administration and civil-military relations.
He is a graduate of the National Defence University
, the Command and Staff College
, Quetta, and is a 1974 graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
, Fort Leavenworth
, Kansas
. He has a Masters degree in International Relations.
During his career, General Karamat's assignments have included being Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Commander II Corps
, Multan and Chief of General Staff (CGS)
at GHQ. He also served in Saudi Arabia
from 1985 to 1988 as the Commander of the Independent Armored Brigade Group.
on 18 December 1995 when previous chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar's three-year term was near expiration. He was set to take over when Kakar was due to retire on 12 January 1996. He was the senior most general at that time, and therefore at promotion to four-star general, he superseded no one. At the time of his promotion, there were four senior generals in the race to replace Kakar as Chief of Army Staff: Lieutenant-General Jehangir Karamat, chief of general staff (CGS); Lieutenant-General Nasir Akhtar, quarter-master general (QMG); Lieutenant-General Muhammad Tariq, inspector-general training and evaluation (IGT&E) at the GHQ; and Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi
, commander XXX Corps, Gujranwala
.
Karamat was then given the additional post of chairmanship of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in November 1997 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
when the previous chairman Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan
's three-year term ended. However, Karamat was forced to resign by Sharif when he criticized Pakistan’s political leadership and advocated a national security council that would give the military a constitutional role in running the country, similar to Turkey's. He retired as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and as Chief of Army Staff in October 1998.
Stanford University
, and the Brookings Institution
, Washington, D.C. He was also part of a U.N.-sponsored study on Afghanistan
, and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute
. He has stayed as the Colonel Commandant
and Colonel-in-Chief
, both ceremonial posts, of the Pakistan Armored Corps. He also stayed as the President of the Pakistan Polo Association.
around the end of September 2004, when Mr Qazi was appointed by Kofi Annan
, the Secretary General of the United Nations
, to be his Special Representative to Iraq
.
On 23 March 2006, Pakistani media reported that Ambassador Karamat was to be replaced by retired Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani
. The reports further stated that it was not clear why Ambassador Karamat, who took his post on a two-year contract, would be returning home after only a year and a half.
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Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
: جہانگیر کرامت; born 20 February 1941) NI(M), TBt, afwc, psc, fsc(u), is a retired four-star general and a renowned military scientist who served as the former Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
from January 1996 to October 1998, and then former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
The embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. was built in 28 August 1947, when Pakistan attained independence from Great Britain and separated from India to form the Dominion of Pakistan. From the onset, Pakistan adopted a pro-American policy with relations taking an upturn in 1954 when Pakistan...
from November 2004 to June 2006. He is also one of very few Army generals in the military history of Pakistan to have resigned over a disagreement with the civilian authorities.
Military career
General Karamat is a graduate of Pakistan Military AcademyPakistan Military Academy
The Pakistan Military Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service military academy. It is located at Kakul near Abbottabad in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan....
, Kakul, where he received his B.Sc.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
Military science
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
when the specialization in Civil-military relations
Civil-military relations
Civil–military relations describes the relationship between civil society as a whole and the military organization or organizations established to protect it. More narrowly, it describes the relationship between the civil authority of a given society and its military authority...
in 1961. Karamat gained commissioned in the Pakistan Army as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the 13th Lancers cavalry regiment, a equivalent of United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Armored Corps's battalion. He is the class of 24th PMA Long Course before joining the Armoured Army Corps on 14 October 1961. As Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
, he then served in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 where he commanded a platoon, and as Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, Karamat commanded a Tank company in Indo-Pakistani Winter War of 1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
. After the war, Karamat went on to attend premier military institutions for higher education where he specialized in administration and civil-military relations.
He is a graduate of the National Defence University
National Defence University, Islamabad
The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the Ministry of Defence of Government of Pakistan, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy...
, the Command and Staff College
Command and Staff College
The Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
, Quetta, and is a 1974 graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Command and General Staff College
The United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as a...
, Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. He has a Masters degree in International Relations.
During his career, General Karamat's assignments have included being Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Commander II Corps
II Corps (Pakistan)
The II Corps, known as II Strike Corps or Army Reserve South, is army corps of Pakistan Army stationed in Multan, Punjab Province of Pakistan. The II Strike Corps is one of Pakistan's four heavy armoured corps...
, Multan and Chief of General Staff (CGS)
Chief of General Staff (Pakistan)
Chief of General Staff, shortly abbreviated as CGS, is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army. Although four-star Chief of Army Staff is the nominal head of the land forces, CGS is the operational and intelligence lead of the institution...
at GHQ. He also served in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
from 1985 to 1988 as the Commander of the Independent Armored Brigade Group.
Chief of Army Staff
Karamat was appointed the Chief of Army Staff by the then President Farooq LeghariFarooq Leghari
Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari was the eighth President of Pakistan from November 14, 1993 until December 2, 1997...
on 18 December 1995 when previous chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar's three-year term was near expiration. He was set to take over when Kakar was due to retire on 12 January 1996. He was the senior most general at that time, and therefore at promotion to four-star general, he superseded no one. At the time of his promotion, there were four senior generals in the race to replace Kakar as Chief of Army Staff: Lieutenant-General Jehangir Karamat, chief of general staff (CGS); Lieutenant-General Nasir Akhtar, quarter-master general (QMG); Lieutenant-General Muhammad Tariq, inspector-general training and evaluation (IGT&E) at the GHQ; and Lieutenant-General Javed Ashraf Qazi
Javed Ashraf Qazi
Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi, HI, SBt, is a Pakistani general and politician who is currently a Senator in the Parliament of Pakistan. During his army career, Qazi headed the Inter-Services Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 and Military Intelligence from 1990 to 1991...
, commander XXX Corps, Gujranwala
Gujranwala
Gujranwala is a industrial city in the north-east of the Punjab province. It is the sixth largest city in Pakistan with a population of approximately 2,661,360 as on 24 June 2011...
.
Karamat was then given the additional post of chairmanship of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in November 1997 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
when the previous chairman Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan
Farooq Feroze Khan
Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan, NI, SBt, , is a retired four-star air force officer in the Pakistan Air Force who was the 13th Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force from 1991 to 1994. Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from...
's three-year term ended. However, Karamat was forced to resign by Sharif when he criticized Pakistan’s political leadership and advocated a national security council that would give the military a constitutional role in running the country, similar to Turkey's. He retired as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and as Chief of Army Staff in October 1998.
Academic career
After his retirement, General Karamat became a visiting fellow at CISACCISAC
CISAC may refer to:*Canberra International Sports and Aquatic Centre, a sport centre located in the ACT Australia*Comité International du Ski-Alpinisme de Compétition, former international committee of competition ski mountaineering...
Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, Washington, D.C. He was also part of a U.N.-sponsored study on Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute
Islamabad Policy Research Institute
Islamabad Policy Research Institute is located in Islamabad, Pakistan. It was founded by the retired brigadier Shaukat Qadir who was also the former vice president at the institute....
. He has stayed as the Colonel Commandant
Colonel Commandant
Colonel Commandant is a military title used in the armed forces of some English-speaking countries. The title, not a substantive rank, could denote a senior colonel with authority over fellow colonels...
and Colonel-in-Chief
Colonel-in-Chief
In the various Commonwealth armies, the Colonel-in-Chief of a regiment is its patron. This position is distinct from that of Colonel of the Regiment. They do not have an operational role. They are however kept informed of all important activities of the regiment, and pay occasional visits to its...
, both ceremonial posts, of the Pakistan Armored Corps. He also stayed as the President of the Pakistan Polo Association.
Ambassador to the United States
General Karamat's name was first mentioned as a replacement for Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir QaziAshraf Qazi
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is a politician in Pakistan and a career diplomat in the United Nations. On September 4, 2007, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ashraf Qazi as his new Special Representative in Sudan...
around the end of September 2004, when Mr Qazi was appointed by Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, the Secretary General of the United Nations
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
, to be his Special Representative to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
On 23 March 2006, Pakistani media reported that Ambassador Karamat was to be replaced by retired Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani
Mahmud Ali Durrani
Mahmud Ali Durrani is a retired Pakistani army officer. He was the National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani's administration until he was fired in January 2009 for "not consulting the Prime Minister while giving statements on foreign relation matters"...
. The reports further stated that it was not clear why Ambassador Karamat, who took his post on a two-year contract, would be returning home after only a year and a half.
Founding think tank
After ambassadorship, General Jehangir Karamat founded a socio-political policy and analysis institute, Spearhead Research, which focuses on social, economic, military and political issues concerning Pakistan and Afghanistan. General Jehangir Karamat is the director and contributor to the Spearhead Research Institute.External links
- Official profile at Pakistan Army website
- Brookings Institution Profile
- PakistanLink: General Karamat: An Introduction
- Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC.
- Spearhead Research
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