Muhammad Shariff

Muhammad Shariff
Gen. Shariff (second left) along with Gen. Zia (third left) in the passing out parade of the 55th PMA Long Course, 16 April 1977.
Birth name Muhammad Shariff
Nickname(s) M. Shariff
Born (1921-02-22)February 22, 1921
Lahore, Punjab, British India
(Present-day in Lahore, Punjab in Pakistan)
Died August 6, 1999(1999-08-06) (aged 78)
Lahore, Punjab
Buried Lahore, Punjab Province
Allegiance  Pakistan
Service/branch  Pakistan Army
Years of service 1942–1977
Rank General
Service number PA – 426:301–304[1]
Unit 3/2 Punjab Regiment
Commands held Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
II Corps in Multan
Permanent Rep. at CENTO
GOC 33rd Infantry Division, Quetta
Corps of Education
Ins-Gen. Training and Evaluation
Battles/wars World War II
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Awards Nishan-i-Imtiaz (military)
Sitara-i-Imtiaz (military)

General Muhammad Shariff (Urdu:محمد شريف  February 22, 1921– August 6, 1999) NI(m), SI(m), was a four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who was the first Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, serving in this post from 1976 until tendering his resignation in 1977 over the disagreement with the military takeover of the civilian government by the Pakistani military.:61[2]:301–304[1]

Biography

Muhammad Shariff was born on 22 February 1921 into a Punjabi family in Lahore, Punjab in India.:374[3][4] After educated at the Lawrence College in Murree, Sharif gained commissioned in the 3rd infantry battalion of the 2nd Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1942.[4] 2nd-Lt. Sharif saw actions in the Burma front during the World War II with the British Indian Army.[4]

After the partition of India in 1947, Captain Sharif moved to join the newly formed Pakistan Army where his career progressed extremely well, having attended and graduated from the Imperial Defence College.:302[1] In 1952, Major Sharif was promoted as a Lieutenant-Colonel and qualified as psc from the Command and Staff College in Quetta; later achieved promotion to the one-star rank in the army in 1959.[4]

In 1960, Brig. Shariff played a crucial role when he commanded the tactical strike brigade to remove the Nawab of Dir and Khan of Jandol to prevent succession from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[5]

In 1964–66, Brig. Sharif moved to the staff assignment at the Army GHQ, serving in the Corps of Education where he served on the army board to select the potential candidates to be educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[4] In 1966, Major-General Sharif was appointed as the Inspector General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at the Army GHQ, and later appointed as the Commandant of the Command and Staff College in Quetta, which he served until 1970.:374[3]

In 1970, Maj-Gen. Sharif was promoted to the three-star rank in the army, and took over the diplomatic assignment as opposed to the command assignment.:374[3] Lieutenant-General Shariff was posted as the permanent representative at the CENTO's HQ in Ankara, Turkey, which he remained until 1971.[4]

On 12 December 1971, Lt-Gen. Sharif returned to Pakistan and partially took over the command of the 33rd Infantry Division, stationed in Quetta, from its GOC, Maj-Gen. Naseer Ahmad, who was wounded in action against the Indian Army.[4] After inspecting the infantry division, Lt-Gen. Sharif eventually handed over the command of the 33rd Infantry Division to then Maj-Gen. Iqbal Khan and departed to Turkey.[4]

In 1972, Lt-Gen. Shariff was appointed as field commander of the II Corps, stationed in Multan.:441[6] During this time, Lt-Gen. Shariff played a crucial role in his role as a secondment when he led his II Corps to provide the military aid to the civil power to maintain law and order in Karachi, amid the labour unrest.[4] In 1974, Lt-Gen, Shariff was honorary appointed as a Colonel commandant of the Punjab Regiment.[4]

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

In 1976, General Tikka Khan's retirement as a chief of army staff was due, and Lt-Gen. Sharif was the most senior army general in the Pakistani military.:262[7] Initially, Lt-Gen, Sharif was in the race for the promotion of four-star rank alongside six other army generals.:67[8]

Eventually, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto promoted and elevated the junior-most Lt-Gen, Zia-ul-Haq, to the four-star appointment and appointed him as nation's second army chief in 1976.:67[8] Prime Minister Bhutto moved to create the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and promoted Lt-Gen. Shariff to the four-star rank, posting him as first Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee on 1 March 1976.:contents[9]

His relations with Gen. Zia remains officially business but seemed to have dislike General Zia personally.:125–126[10] In 1974-75, Lt-Gen. Sharif had submitted a report to then-army chief General Tikka Khan that detailed the actions of Maj-Gen. Zia's actions bypassing the chain of command in the military but the report was overshadowed due Zia's dedication towards promoting the professionalism in the military.:125–126[10] His duties as Chairman Joint Chiefs had been largely ineffective, and his deputy Admiral M.S. Khan had led the delegation to meet with Vice Chairman Li Xiannian paid a state visit to Pakistan on 22 January 1977.:28[11]

His relations with Gen. Zia soured and was not supportive towards the actions by General Zia of military takeover of the civilian government, and regretted that this ultimate step had become inevitable.[12] In July 1977, General Sharif prematurely seek retirement and he submitted his resignation to the President of Pakistan, asking him to relieve him of his duty.:304[1]

In public circles, General Shariff privately made it clear that the martial law was in fact unconstitutional.[4] Furthermore, the General Shariff was of the view of strengthening the Chairman joint chiefs' role more assertive and power than the army chief but before the system could evolve itself into a cohesive working structure the July 1977 coup disturbed the power balance totally, and tilted it heavily in favor of the army chief.[13]

In 1977, General Shariff left the chairmanship of the joint chiefs to his deputy Admiral Mohammad Shariff but it was not until 1979 when his resignation actually went effective.:304[1] After his retirement he faded from public life, refusing to accept any post in government, living off his pension and savings.[4] He died in Lahore on 6 August 1999.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 GoP, Govt. of Pakistan (1979). The Gazette of Pakistan. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  2. ↑ Siddiqa-Agha, A. (2001). "Power Politics". Pakistan's Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-99: In Search of a Policy (google books) (1st ed.). Springer, 2001: Springer. p. 218. ISBN 9780230513525. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Ilmi Encyclopaedia of General Knowledge. Ilmi Kitab Khana. 1979.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Sehgal, Major Ikram (August 1999). "Obituary: A Soldier of Character General (Retd) Muhammad Shariff Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee". www.defencejournal.com. Defence Journal. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Amin, A.H. (February 2002). "Remembering Our Warriors: Brig. Shamim S. Manto". www.defencejournal.com. Islamabad: Defence Journal. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  6. ↑ Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed swords : Pakistan, its army, and the wars within. Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195476606.
  7. ↑ Wolpert, Stanley A. (1993). Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: his life and times. Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195076615. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 Baruah, Amit (2007). Dateline Islamabad. Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143102465. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  9. ↑ Alam, Dr Shah (2012). Pakistan Army: Modernisation, Arms Procurement and Capacity Building. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 9789381411797. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  10. 1 2 Khan, Feroz Hassan (2012). "Punishing Pakistan". Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistan' atomic bomb (google books) (1st ed.). Palo Alto, ca, u.s.: Stanford University Press. p. 400. ISBN 9780804784801. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Service, United States Foreign Broadcast Information (1979). Daily Report: People's Republic of China. National Technical Information Service. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  12. ↑ Arif, Khalid Mahmud (1995). Working with Zia : Pakistan's power politics, 1977-1988. Karachi: Oxford University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-19-577570-9. [Upon being informed that Operation Fair Play was underway,] General Shariff felt sorry that this ultimate step had become inevitable.
  13. ↑ Brig (retd) Yasub Ali Dogar. "Pakistan's Higher Defence Reorganisation" Defence Journal January 1999
Military offices
Preceded by
Post created		 Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
1976 – 1977		 Succeeded by
Mohammad Shariff
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