Gul Hassan Khan
Gul Hassan Khan known secretly as George, was a Pakistani former three-star rank general and diplomat who served as the sixth and last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, from 20 December 1971 until 3 March 1972, marking the shortest tenure in the role. Gul Hassan was forced to resign along with Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan for refusing President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's orders to deploy their forces to suppress a police strike protesting against the government for a pay increase.
During the meeting, Bhutto initiated the discussion by saying, "Gentlemen, the country is going through one crisis after another and with the latest one being the strike by the police and for which no cooperation has been forthcoming from the army and the air force when asked for, I regret that a stage has come when we can no longer carry on like this. Therefore I am not prepared to run the government in this sort of an environment." As soon as Bhutto finished, Gul Hassan, known for his forthrightness, immediately stood up and confronted Bhutto, saying to his face, "Well that's all right Mr President but let me also make it clear that this kind of non-cooperation will continue if the demands placed on the services and especially on the army is not lawful. And as far as I am personally concerned I want to make it quite clear that I am ready to quit right now." After Gul Hassan's statement, Bhutto wore a mischievous smile and promptly handed over two file covers to Gul Hassan and Abdur Rahim Khan. Inside were resignation letters prepared for them to sign. Gul Hassan, showing contempt, threw the file back at Bhutto, who then attempted to shake his hand. The office was renamed to Chief of Army Staff and Gul Hassan was succeeded by Tikka Khan.
Throughout his career, he held the positions of Aide-de-camp to Cameron Nicholson, General Viscount Slim, and Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Directing Staff Staff College, Quetta, Commander 1 Armoured Division, Chief of General Staff, Director Military Operations, and Commander 100 Independent Armoured Brigade Group.
Notably, Gul Hassan was known for leading from the front. Once during training army officers, he wanted the artillery practice to mimic real war conditions. He had a bunker built at the target end of the Muzaffargarh range, which offered some security but was not completely safe, as a direct hit could destroy it. Despite the risk, Gul Hassan entered the bunker himself and instructed the gunners to fire with a narrow margin of error to test their training. He insisted that each artillery regiment take turns firing at the bunker to assess their skills. Colonel EAS Bokhari writes, "Luckily the units fired perfectly - and though Gen Gul was shaken in the bunker and came out of it with a lot of dust and fear of God in him - but he was quite safe. I have never seen any General Officer do this and ask for fire on a target where he himself was located."
Colonel Abdul Qayyum recalls that Gul Hassan was "short on strategic vision," "but he was a field commander par excellence - by our standards, at any rate. He almost equaled Patton in linguistic matters, but he was our version of Robert E. Lee in the field. Gul Hassan was warm, sincere, forthright, without a trace of cant or deceit, wholly committed to his command, bold and generous of spirit."
Early life
Born in Quetta, Balochistan, into a middle-class Pashtun family on 9 June 1921, his father was the Superintendent of the Government Railway Police. Gul Hassan had three brothers and a sister, of which he was the second oldest. He has relatives still residing in Pabbi Nowshera District and in Quetta, Pakistan.Gul Hassan survived both the 1930 earthquake in Balochistan and the devastating 1935 Quetta earthquake. In 1939, Gul Hassan joined the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. Here, he was described as an "usually quite Pathan" and the smartest cadet. In March 1940, he appeared for the competitive entrance examination into the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun but failed, not because of his academics, but because Hassan was late to his interview which was worth 500 marks on the exam.
In January 1941, he took the exam again and received admission into the Indian Military Academy, where he would be known as an "excellent" Hockey player, gaining fame as a boxer.
Personal life
Gul Hassan was fluent in Urdu, Pashto, Punjabi, English, and Persian. He was married to a Greek woman and had one son, Sher Hassan Khan, born in 1982.When his wife came from Vienna to see him in the hospital during his final days, he had given her 1.1 million rupees and his son a similar amount. The last 100,000 rupees he had left, he instructed his family to use for his funeral.
Military career
British Indian Army
On 22 February 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British Indian Army into the 9th battalion of the Frontier Force Rifles and was later transferred to the Armoured Corps.Gul Hassan attended an Intelligence course in March 1943 at Karachi where his commandant was Lieutenant Colonel J Campbell.
World War II
Gul Hassan was stationed in Assam with Assam Rifles and participated in the Burma Campaign 1944–45. He recalled the stench of the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers and that he witnessed the British Indian Army burning bodies of the Japanese.Towards the end of the war, he was appointed as the aide-de-camp to General Viscount Slim who commanded the 14th Army in Burma.
Pakistan Army
After the Partition of British India, Gul Hassan opted for Pakistan and served as aide-de-camp to Muhammad Ali Jinnah.In 1950, Gul Hassan attended the Staff College, Quetta. In September 1951, he was posted to the Military Training Directorate at the GHQ under director Brigadier Jerrad.
Gul Hassan was the Directing Staff at Staff College, Quetta from 30 June 1957 to 16 June 1959.
At the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Brigadier Gul Hassan was the Director of Military Operations in the GHQ. As a result of his actions in the war, Hassan was awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan by President Ayub Khan. After the war, he was promoted to major general and was appointed as the General Officer Commanding of the 1st Armoured Division headquartered in Multan.
In September 1968, he was appointed as Colonel Commandant of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers.
On 20 December 1968, Major General Gul Hassan was posted to GHQ as the Chief of General Staff. He was promoted to Lieutenant General while serving in this post in 1971.
Chief of General Staff Gul Hassan acted as the Director of Exercise for an event aimed at assessing the technical skills and professional capabilities of various participating Pakistan Army units. On 30 January 1971, near Multan, Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan and President Yahya Khan arrived to observe the maneuvers.
Role in saving Zia-ul-Haq's career
According to A.O. Mitha, it was Gul Hassan's lobbying at the GHQ which saved then Brigadier Zia-ul-Haq, the chief of Pakistan's military mission, from being sacked. Brigadier Zia-ul-Haq, who was deployed to Jordan in 1971, was recommended to be court-martialed by Major General Nawazish to President Yahya Khan for disobeying GHQ orders by commanding a Jordanian armoured division against the Palestinians, as part of "Operation Black September" in which thousands were killed. It was Gul Hassan who interceded for Zia ultimately leading to Yahya Khan letting Zia off the hook.1971 war
In 1971, Gul Hassan was the Chief of General Staff. According to several sources, Gul Hassan was unaware of Operation Searchlight and had a strong dislike for General A. A. K. Niazi. In a conversation with President Yahya Khan, Gul Hassan was informed about Niazi's promotion and his own. Yahya Khan asked, "When did you see General Abdul Hamid Khan last?" Gul Hassan replied, "I just came from his office."Yahya continued, "Didn't he tell you that you have been promoted?" Gul Hassan, puzzled, responded, "No, Sir. Where am I going?"
Yahya clarified, "Nowhere." Confused, Gul Hassan questioned, "Then why should I be promoted?" Yahya explained, "Because we are promoting Niazi who is junior to you. So we have had to give you the next rank."
Gul Hassan further inquired, "Where is Niazi going?" Yahya replied, "As commander Eastern Command."
In frustration, Gul Hassan uttered an expletive. In response, President Yahya Khan remarked to Sultan Khan who was also present, "This is what he thinks of my senior officers." Additionally, Gul Hassan had assessed Niazi as having a professional "ceiling no more than that of a company commander."
General Abdul Hamid Khan, as Chief of Staff, was the de facto C-in-C of the Pakistan Army as Yahya Khan was usually drunk. However, Abdul Hamid failed to fulfill his responsibilities in either role. According to Gul Hassan, Abdul Hamid had the authority but avoided taking responsibility. Abdul Hamid withheld crucial information from the GHQ, leaving them unaware of diplomatic developments and military plans. Gul Hassan adds that despite General A. A. K. Niazi's incompetence, Abdul Hamid supported him, worsening the situation. Gul Hassan states that by September, it seemed inevitable that India would intervene in East Pakistan and Yahya Khan attempted to seek help from the United States but received no response. Similarly, Yahya reached out to China and they told him to find a political solution. Gul Hassan goes on to say that Yahya was praying that Pakistan would be rescued by angels. Gul Hassan notes that A. A. K. Niazi, oblivious to the reality, did not anticipate an Indian invasion and falsely reported normalcy in East Pakistan.
Despite warnings, Abdul Hamid failed to convey critical assessments to Yahya, who remained detached from the situation, "foolishly" declining a request for an urgent briefing by Gul Hassan. The army faced a dire disadvantage against India and rebels, with Yahya's leadership lacking direction. After the war, Yahya blamed the loss of East Pakistan on "the treachery of Indians", while Gul Hassan attributed the loss to Pakistan's "own blunders."