Syed Mohammad Ahsan

Syed Mohammad Ahsan
Vice Admiral S.M. Ahsan, PN
Birth name	Syed Mohammad Ahsan Khan Abbasi
Nickname(s)	S.M. Ahsan
Buried	Hyderabad Deccan, British Indian Empire
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Navy
Years of service	1940–1970
Rank	Vice Admiral
Service number	PN No. 07
Unit	Naval Operation Branch
Commands	Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Commander Logistics (COMLOG) Commander Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) DG Naval Intelligence (DGNI) Captain of PNS Tariq Cmdnt. Cadet College Petaro Aide-de-camp to Louis Mountbatten Military Advisor to the Government Martial Law Administrator of East-Pakistan
Battles/wars	Second World War Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Operation Dwarka
Awards	Sitara-e-Pakistan Distinguished Service Order Hilal-e-Quaid-i-Azam
Other work	former Governor of East Pakistan, Minister of Finance, Chairman National Shipping Corporation 1975–76. Chairman Port Qasim Authority 1979–80

Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan HQA, SPk, DSO, (Urdu: ﺴﻴﺩ ﻣﺤﻣﺪ ﺍﺣﺴﻦ) (b. 1921 – d. 1989) was a senior 3 star rank naval officer who was the 4th Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy from October 20, 1966 to August 31, 1969. A career naval intelligence officer, Vice-Admiral Ahsan was an integral to established and expand the capabilities of Naval Intelligence and the elite Naval Special Service Group (SSG(N)), and took initiatives to modernize the navy. As director-general of Naval Intelligence, Vice-Admiral S.M. Ahsan participated and led the Naval intelligence during Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was the most trusted companion of President Field Marshal Ayub Khan and was presented in every meeting chaired by Khan. In 1969, after his tenure was completed as Chief of Naval Staff, President Ayub Khan led the appointment of Vice-Admiral Ahsan as the Martial Law Administrator of East Pakistan. On 1st September of 1969 Vice-Admiral Ahsan presumed the command of East-Pakistan as Martial Law Administrator with given gubernatorial and military power of the East-Pakistan. Admiral Ahsan was the unified commander of the Pakistan Combatant Forces in the Eastern contingent, and served as the Commander of the Pakistan Eastern Military Command until his resignation on 7th March of 1971.

Early life

Admiral Ahsan was born and bred in Hyderabad Deccan to an educated Urdu-speaking family. He is the first cousin of Captain Muhammad Syed. He passed the entry university exam, and attended the Osmania University. At there, he studied and graduate with B.Sc. in Statistics and physics in 1943. He joined the Royal Indian Navy in 1940 and gained commissioned as midshipman in 1943, and late was inducted to Royal Navy. He initially worked as an engineer and science officer at the Royal Navy. In 1945, he rosed up to the rank of a Lieutenant before independence of Pakistan. At the time of independence of Pakistan in August 1947, Lieutenant Ahsan chose to join the Pakistan Navy, and was assigned the position of military advisor to the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He had also served as the ADC to Lord Mountbatten of Burma as well.

Naval Career

As Commodore, S.M. Ahsan commanded the Karachi Naval Logistic base, known as COMLOG, and also commanded the Pakistan Naval Fleet, known as COMPAK. As, Rear Admiral, Ahsan participated in Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. During 1950s, Pakistan Navy had lack of naval capabilities and logistic bases. Commodore Ahsan established logistic and maintenance bases near at the Karach, as he was the head of the COMLOG. He also supervised the navy-led projects and supervise the construction of Naval Operation Headquarters in Karach. In 1952, he was made Depute Director of Naval Intelligence and was shifted in ISI Headquarters. In 1960, as Rear Admiral, Ahsan had established the intelligence wing in the Pakistan Navy, now known as Naval Intelligence. He played an integral and administrative part in the establishment of Naval Intelligence.

As director-general of Naval Intelligence, Ahsan gathered the successful intelligence reports on the Indian Navy's strategic western naval positions, and orchestrated naval operations against the Indian Navy. S.M. Ahsan, as 2 star rank naval officer, led the Operation Dwarka as a Officer Commanding. During the 1965 war, he was the Commander of Pakistan's destroyer fleet where he initiated the large sum of man power and equipments in the Destroyer squadron. Having responsible for the Naval Intelligence, Admiral Ahsan led the training program to trained a large sum of Pakistan naval personnel, and recruited numbers of naval officer in his newly created Naval Intelligence. Rear-Admiral Ahsan had assigned numbers of reconnaissance missions to PNS Ghazi and PNS Tariq, and launched naval operations against the Indian Navy.

After the war, Ahsan became the Chief of Naval of Pakistan Navy on October 20, 1966, nearly a year after the war with India in September 1965. His tenure saw the induction of PNS Hangor in the Naval Submarine Squadron. As Chief of Navy, he modernized the Pakistan Navy and created an Intelligence circle in the Pakistan Navy. He also expanded the navy's operations throughout the country, and established a well-maintained Naval Intelligence Directorate, directly reporting to him. During his tenure as Naval Chief, Vice-Admiral Ahsan also served as Board of Governors of Cadet College Petaro from 1966–1968.

Vice Admiral Ahsan is also credited for founding Port Qasim – Pakistan's second port after exploring the coast around Phitti Creek in the late 1960. He immediately met with then Energy Minister Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto where he had convincing Mr. Bhutto in 1972 to locate the port there. After convincing Bhutto, he had supervised the construction and establishment of the port where he had set up the main industries and machineries at the Port. The main channel of this port bears his name.

East Pakistan Crisis

Upon his relieved as Chief of Naval Staff of the Navy at the end of August 1969, Chief Martial Law Administrator and Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army General Yahya Khan appointed him to become the Governor and Martial Law Administrator of East-Pakistan on 1 September of 1969. As military administrator of East Pakistan, Admiral S.M. Ahsan tried to led the solution for the East Pakistan crisis, continuously meeting General Yahya Khan, and the political leadership at both East and West Pakistan. During the time, he was made military administrator, the country had been in turmoil with riots and disturbances all over the country (East and West Pakistan) against the rule of former President Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

It was in his charged atmosphere that elections were held in the country in December 1970. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League was the clear victor having secured more than 39.2% of the seats in the Parliament. This was a shock to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who ended up with around 18.6% of the seats — all from West Pakistan. Bhutto refused to accept a government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman which led to the disastrous action by Pakistan Army in East Pakistan, and the eventual independence of Bangladesh after the Indian invasion in December 1971.

Admiral Ahsan was opposed to any military action in East Pakistan. In an article titled A nation's shame published in the Newsline magazine of September 2000, the author states:

"But who was responsible for creating this hostile atmosphere and hatred among the people? The situation deteriorated further after General Yahya Khan postponed the first session of the newly elected constituent assembly. It became very clear immediately after the election results that the generals were not prepared to transfer power to the Awami League. First the delay in summoning the National Assembly session and later its postponement confirmed the Bengalis' worst fears, that the election results were not acceptable both to the generals and to the majority of West Pakistani politicians. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto publicly called for a boycott of the assembly session. Such a transgression was bound to further fuel public resentment".

"The anti-Bengali bias of the military leadership was very obvious. There was no representation from East Pakistan in the decision-making forums".

In his statement before the Commission, Admiral Ahsan, the former governor of East Pakistan, aptly described the hostile mood of the military leadership when they decided to postpone the assembly session and launch a military operation in the eastern province. 'On arrival in Rawalpindi I was alarmed to notice the high tide of militarism flowing turbulently.... There was open talk of a military solution according to plan ', maintained Admiral Ahsan. 'I was caught quite unaware in this atmosphere for I know of no military solution which could possibly solve whatever crisis was supposed to be impending in the minds of the authorities.'

" It was evident from the statement that the decision to launch a military operation was taken without consulting the governor of East Pakistan who was the only sane voice in the government. Ahsan went on to describe the atmosphere at a crucial high-level meeting in Rawalpindi on February 22, 1971 ".

" The president presided over the meeting of the governors and martial law administrators attended as usual by the military and the civilian officers of the intelligence agencies. It is relevant to record that among the tribe of governors and MLAs I was the only non-army governor and the only retired officer in the midst of active service men. I was the only person, though a non-Bengali, who had to represent the sentiments of seventy million Bengalis to a completely West Pakistani generalship", said Admiral Ahsan. 'During the past 17 months, in meetings and conferences, my brief ran counter to the cut-and-dried solutions of West Pakistan representatives and civil servants. The president invariably gave decisions which accommodated East Pakistan's viewpoint, at least partially. This made me unpopular with my colleagues who probably thought I was 'difficult' at best and 'sold' to the Bengalis at worst.'

Resignation and Legacy

Due to his opposition to the apparent planned military operation, Vice-Admiral Ahsan resigned from his position as Governor of East Pakistan on 7 March, 1971, less than three weeks before the army action. He immediately flew to West Pakistan and moved to Karachi where he lived a very quiet life. Admiral Ahsan is also credited for founding Port Qasim- Pakistan's second port after exploring the coast around Phitti Creek in the late 60's and convincing Mr Bhutto in 1972 to locate the port there. The main channel of this port bears his name.The late Benazir Bhutto acknowledged Ahsan as the founder of Port Qasim at a speech on the occasion of the opening of a new terminal at PQA on 4 August 1989.Ahsan also served as Chairman of the National Shipping Corporation between 1975–76. Ahsan's years immediately preceding his death were quiet ones. He learnt French and played bridge.

Honors

For his services and honors, Pakistan Navy, in the honor and recognition of Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, commissioned an intelligence and naval base on 30 October 1991, known as PNS Ahsan. The base was given commissioned by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Yastur-ul-Haq Malik.