News
Seventh major-general retires this year
By Sardar Sikander Shaheen
ISLAMABAD: A two-star general of Pakistan Army, the seventh in ongoing year, reached the age of superannuation on Friday, after serving as major-general for over four years.
Major-General Hamid Shafique of the Army Medical Corps (AMC) reached his scheduled retirement age on April 11, sources at the General Headquarters (GHQ) told Daily Times.
Prior to him, six major-generals have reached the age of superannuation this year, but none of them was from the AMC. Three of the retired generals were from the Engineers and one each from Ordnance, Army Services Corps (ASC) and Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME).
Shafique was performing his duties as an adviser at the Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, at the time of retirement.
Last month, Major-General Jamal Shahid (EME) and Major-General Sajid Iqbal (ASC) reached the retirement age.
In February, Major-General Ausaf Ali, Major-General Tahir Ashraf and Maj-Gen Ghulam Dastagir retired. All these three officers were from the Engineers.
In January this year, Maj-Gen Faiz Muhammad Khan Bangash (Ordnance) reached the superannuation age.
The just retired Maj-Gen Hamid Shafique was promoted from brigadier to major-general rank in March 2010 along with 28 other brigadiers. Out of them, three major-generals Zahid Latif Mirza, Ikramul Haq and Obaidullah Khan got promotions last December, while Naveed Ahmed, Sohail Abbas Zaidi, Rizwan Akhtar, Shehzad Sikander and Mian Hilal Hussain are expecting promotion this year.
The cases of five other major-generals from the same batch, Tariq Javed, Ghayur Mehmood, Asghar Nawaz, Nadir Zeb and Iqbal Aasi, may also be considered for promotions this year, depending on the availability of three-star slots and requirements, sources said.
Last year, a total of nine major-generals were promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, whereas 30 brigadiers were promoted to the major-general rank this February. The Army Promotion Board’s meeting for the promotions from two to three-star positions is scheduled in the coming months.
Apart from those promoted, awaiting or expecting promotions and the retired ones, other major-generals from the batch of 29 brigadiers promoted in the year 2010 have been superseded. Seven of them retiring this and next year are: Allah Ditta Khan, Inamul Haq, Imran Zafar, Agha Masood, Sohail Ahmed Khan, Imtiaz Sherazi and Nasrullah Dogar.
Unlike other military arms, the AMC is the only services arm of Pakistan Army whose major-generals are not superseded, but mostly retired without getting promotions. Only one major-general from the AMC, at a time, is elevated to the rank of lieutenant-general.
Pakistan Army Surgeon General, Lt-Gen Azhar Rashid, is the only three-star serving general from the AMC, whereas Commandant Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFIRM), Maj-Gen Akhtar Waheed becomes the senior-most two-star general from the AMC with the retirement of Hamid Shafique. He will be retiring next year.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk