Jamshed Gulzar Kiani

Jamshed Gulzar Kiani
Nickname(s)	General Kiani
Buried	Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Army
Years of service	1964-2004
Rank	Lieutenant General
Unit	Baloch Regiment
Commands held	Baloch Regiment X Corps Additional DG Inter-Services Intelligence DG Military Intelligence Adjutant General (AG)
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Operation Searchlight Indo-Pakistani Conflict of 1984 Indo-Pakistani War of 1999 Indo-Pakistani Conflict of 2001-02 Operation Parakram War in North-West Pakistan
Awards	Sitara-e-Jurat Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitar-e-Basalat Tamgha-i-Jurat
Other work	former Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission

Lieutenant General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani (Born 1944-2008), was a Pakistan Army intelligence officer and the former Colonel Commandant of the X Corps and Baloch Regiment. An illustrative and long career army and intelligence officer, Kiani came into limelight when he had served as Director-General of the Pakistan Defense Forces's Military Intelligence and the Colonel-in-Chief of the X Corps at the time of military takeover of October 1999. Having remembered as an upright and honest officer during his military career, Kiani had served as a chairman of Federal Public Service Commission during the General Musharraf's regime and had resigned over the situation on the Operation Silence .

Military Career

Kiani was commissioned in Pakistan Army's Baloch Regiment in 1964 and had fought in Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 as a Second lieutenant alongside with then-Second Lieutenant Parvez Musharraf. He did a 38th PMA Long Course from Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul. Having active in Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts, Kiani was stationed as a commanding intelligence officer of the East Pakistan operations but the Pakistan Army Generals Headquater (GHQ) had called Captain Kiani to West Pakistan after which he developed serious intelligence inssues and matters with Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi. In an interview with dr. Masood, Kiani had famously called that "General A. A. K. Niazi was a total and abject failure general who had no control over the situation.

After the war, Kiani was then posted in Karachi in 1972 as a Major, and had served in the "ISI Karachi Headquarters". In 1975, then Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and later Colonel. After which, the prime minister had assigned Colonel Kiyani as an intelligence security officer at the then-known as Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) where he was an instrumental securing the nuclear and fissile materials.

In 1987, then President and army cheif General Zia-ul-Haq promoted him as Brigadier-General. In September 1987, he was made principle intelligence officer, alongside with then-Brigadier-General Parvez Musharraf, Kiani was an instrumental gathering the intelligence information to a newly formed SSG at Khapalu base (Kashmir). After the Siachen conflict, Kiani had transfered to Baloch Regiment and was stationed at Ormara. Prior to 1994, Brigadier-General Kiani had supervised the construction of the Jinnah Naval Base's space facility, and had supervised the completion of the launch pad and space-control tower of the facility.

In 1996, Kiani was promoted as a Major-General and was made Colonel-in-Chief of one of the Light Infantry of the Baloch Regiment, notable a X Baloch Light Infantry Regiment. Kiani then had transfered to Military Intelligence as well as serving as the Colonel Commandant of the X Baloch Light Infantry Regiment. Again, as an active military figure in India-Pakistan conflicts and war, Major General Kiani was transfered to ISI and was assigned to gather and collect intelligence information on India's strategic position in Jammu and Kashmir. In March 12, 1999, he, along with senior military officials at ISI headquarter, Kiani had given the presentation and briefed then-Prime minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, which according to him, had nothing to do with Kargil conflict. During the event from May to July , Major-General Kiani had given presentation to Armed Forces Chiefs every single week on the conflict, and had given presentation to prime minister only three times on the conflict.

Major General Kiani had came into limelight he was headed the M.I and, according to the Pakistani media, the general was the the Colonel-in-Chief of the X Corps at the time of military takeover of October 1999. However, in an interview with dr. Shahid Masood, LTG Kiani has denied the fact that he was the Colonel Commandant of the X Corps of Pakistan Army during the time General Musharaf had ousted the prime minister to take over the country. According to his interview, then-Major General Kiani was promoted to Lieutenant General and was made the Colonel-in-Chief of the X Corps on 1 November, 1999.

In November 1999, Kiani was promoted to Lieutenant-General and took over the X Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed. The X Corps again saw the action against Indian Army when, in late 2001, Indian Army launches the Operation Parakram. LTG Kiani, having a long career as a intelligence officer, commanded the X Corps posted in Azad Kashmir. The X Corps quickly neutralized the Indian Army's Operation Parakram, leaving 798 Indian Army's soldiers dead. In October of 2002, both Indian and Pakistani governments had begun to demobilize their troops along their border and, in 2003, a cease fire pact was signed.

LTG Kiani then was given the command of Baloch Regiment and was made Colonel Commandant of the regiment. His regiment was the first regiment that was deployed in South and North Waziristan. His Regiment was given tasks to search and arrest the al-Qaeda members. In 2004, the tensions rooted Pakistani Army and Tribe leaders and the heavy fighting broke in the areas. His regiment saw the heaviest fighting broke out at Azam Warsak, near the South Waziristan town of Wana. Despite of his heroic actions in the war, Lieutenant General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani took retirement from the Pakistan Army in October 14, 2004 and recieved a honorable discharge from the army.

Post-Retirement

After his retirement, General Kiani was made Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), a government of Pakistan's agency responsible for the appointment of the civil servants and bureaucrat]]s in the Government, by the General Pervez Musharraf. He remaind chairman of the FPSC for three years. He had neutralized the prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali who had first demand to give power of appointments in Central Board of Revenue (CBR) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to ministers. According to Kiani, if this power was given to ministers they would have gotten their own way. General Kiani was expelled from (FPSC) by then-President General Pervez Musharraf in 2007, after which he developed serious issues about ths mishandling of the Red Mosque issue.

Death

General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani died on Saturday, November 01, 2008 at the age of 64, shortly after he given and much criticized the former general. The cause of his death was protracted illness at Combined Military Hospital, Islamabad. His funeral was attended a large number of people belonging to various walks of life besides including current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majeed, Corps Commander Rawalpindi Lieutenant General Tahir Mehmood, former COAS General Mirza Aslam Baig, former DG ISI General (Retd) Hameed Gul, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Nasir Khan Durrani, members of Pakistan Ex‑Servicemen Association, ex‑Generals, political figures, former AJK President Sardar M Anwar Khan, President and General Secretary of Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) Sardar Asmat Ullah Khan and Malik Siddique Awan and other lawyers.

Views on Musharraf

Jamshed Gulzar Kiani had given his first interview to dr. Shahid Masood in which he widely and severly criticized then-army chief General Parvez Musharraf. Talking to the Geo TV programme Meray Mutabiq, he said General Musharraf had committed basic mistakes such as the Kargil debacle, surrender to the US threat of pushing Pakistan into the Stone Age and the Lal Masjid destruction. In an interview, he had condemned the arrest and treatment of Taliban regime ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef. According to him, Kiani was in the ISI and advised against such acts but his advice fell on deaf ears. As a result today Musharraf was the most unpopular president. If he had accepted the advice, he would have been the most successful president of Pakistan today.

Calls for Kargil War introspection

General Kiani who was a head of the Military Intelligence had said according to his information Nawaz Sharif did not know anything about the Kargil episode. He was never thoroughly briefed on the same. He supported holding of a probe into the Kargil fiasco, adding factors behind the scene, about which people do not know, would also come into the limelight.

In an interview, Masood asked what was General Musharraf's plan, General Kiyani said he had briefed Nawaz Sharif and told him that it was a very sensitive issue and he could not unveil all the details to him. He was only apprised of the ongoing situation. Nawaz time and again asked about the truth from senior officials including Sartaj Aziz who was the foreign minister. He also tried to persuade the chief of army staff. General Majid spoke in detail on the issue. General Mahmood was the corps commander then.

Kiyani said our Jawans (soldiers) bravely fought the Kargil War. I think they revived the memories of the 1965 war. Our officers fought more fiercely than in the 1965 War and repulsed enemy attacks time and again. Despite the fact that supplies were disrupted due to extreme cold, the Jawans continued the war. He repeated that arguments will come up when there will be a probe.

He termed Nawaz’s travel to the US a bid to save the prestige of the Pakistan Army. He said in the meeting of May 17 Nawaz gave a green signal to the operation. He assured conditional support to General Musharraf that the government would back the operation when he successfully moved forward. If unfortunately the same failed, he would not be in a position to support him (Musharraf). When the army was caught in an awkward situation, he again travelled to the US to save the symbol of the country, the Pakistan Army.

External links

• Kiani Died
• Gen Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani dies
• Gen Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani (r) July 1928 - 1 Nov 2008
• General Kiani
• Kiani Died
• Kiyani Passes Away
• http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14892]
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