A Comrade in Arms Remembers
By Lt. Col (Retd.) Afzal Sipraa
Khalid Platoon, 50th PMA Long Course
Pakistan
It was 1974 when Gentleman Cadet 13094 Naeem Khalid Lodhi was given the prestigious appointment of Company Senior under Officer (CSUO) Khalid Company in the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul. He was one of the eight cadets who got this coveted appointment out of 300 cadets in the 50th PMA Long Course.
“Leadership” is taught as one of the character-building subjects at the Academy. Different traits of leadership carry different weightages and Moral Courage has the maximum -10 - in which Gentleman Cadet Lodhi excelled. It was under his honest, dynamic leadership and demonstrated performance as CSUO that Khalid Company was adjudged the Champion Company of the year 1974.
The most difficult task in the world is to motivate a soldier to sacrifice his life for the defense of the country. One has to set the self example and lead the men from the front in the battle to do it and Naeem Khalid Lodhi started doing it at the young age of 21 years when most others are in their learning years in colleges and universities. As time passed, he was entrusted with greater responsibilities. He was a faculty member in the Military College of Engineering Risalpur, a Directing Staff in the Command and Staff College Quetta and then later in the National Defence University Islamabad. Hundreds of military, civil and foreign officers, including the current CNS, benefited from his knowledge and graduated from these prestigious seats of learning.
He commanded thousands of men and officers from the days he was a 2/Lt till he rose to be a Lt General - a period of over 36 years. He introduced and demonstrated practically new concepts for the defense of the motherland. No one will have any hesitation in saying that General Lodhi is a gentleman, a very capable and highly responsible officer. It is just unfortunate that he was accused of misconduct. A person of his caliber, intellect, integrity and patriotism certainly knows the difference between conduct and misconduct. Losing officers of his character and caliber can be highly demoralizing for the upright officers in the services. Based upon my 27 years of professional association with him I can confidently say that he always acted and acts according to his conscience - not dictation - and in the best interest of the country.
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