Hamid Gul was a very famous Lieutenant General. He was a three-star army general in the Pakistan Army. Possessing a charismatic personality, he was very prominent in every sector of people, including army personnel, religious scholars, general scholars, generalists, anchor persons and ordinary people.
Biography
Hamid Gul was born in Sargodha in the Punjab province of Pakistan. His father’s name was Muhammad Khan. Muhammad Khan and his wife were Pathans from Buner Tehsil in Swat district. His date of birth is November 20, 1936.
Hamid started his schooling in his village. Later, he secured admission in Govt. College Lahore (which was an honour in those days). During his education in Govt. College, he succeeded in getting access to the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul. He left Govt. College and joined the Kakul Academy.
Commission and Military Career
Hamid Gul joined the Pak Army in October 1956. He has been selected for the PMA long course in the 19th Lancers. The 19th Lancers, an armoured regiment, was known as 19th King George V’s own Lancers before 1956.
Gul was battalion commander under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. When General Zia was GOC, 1st Armoured Division and Commander of II Corps at Multan, Hamid became his Staff Colonel. IN 1978, Hamid Gul was promoted to Brigadier. His performance made him a martial law administrator of Bahawalpur. In 1982, he was appointed commander of the first armoured division, Multan.
Wars
Hamid Gul was a real soldier and participated in many wars. In the 1965 war against India, he was a squadron commander. In 1987-1989, being head of ISI, Gul planned the operation of Jalalabad during the Soviet-Afghan war. Hamid Gul was in charge of the Zarb-e-Momin process. The exercise Zarb-e-Momin, held in 1989, was the most extensive exercise to showcase muscular power after the 1971 war.
ISI Head and CIA
Hamid Gul’s consistent hard work made him head of ISI in 1987. He had deep involvement in the Soviet-Afghan war. He worked very closely with the CIA during the war. With his policies, he succeeded in withdrawing the Soviet army from Afghanistan.
The CIA has promised to rebuild and bring prosperity to Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet forces. Hamid Gul was severely disappointed when the CIA did not fulfil the promise. Later, the US imposed sanctions on Pakistan against the secret nuclear program. In response, Hamid has taken the stand and announced that Muslim countries should unite against the US in the war on terrorism.
Hamid Gul Retirement
In August 1991, General Asif Nawaz became the fourth chief of the Pakistan Army Staff. He has ordered the transfer of Hamid as the DG Heavy Industries Taxila. This job was meagre compared to the level of Hamid Gul; therefore, Hamid Gul refused the orders. As a punishment for disobedience, he was retired from the army.
Post-retirement Activities
Hamid Gul took part in an Islamic conference held in Peshawar. This conference was held in Darul Uloom Haqqania in January 2001. The conference was attended by 300 Islamic leaders of different groups.
Hamid Gul was against Pervaiz Musharaf. He united activists from the liberal democratic party and retired former military officers against Pervaiz Musharraf. He also faced riot police in the attempt to arrest Hamid Gul at a rally against the dismissal of child justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary.
Awards
Hamid Gul has a long list of awards. He has been awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz . He has been awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz military. Further, Hamid has been awarded Sitara-e-Basalat for star of good conduct. He has been awarded Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War, Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War, Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War, Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War, 10 Years service medal, 20 Years service medal, 30 Years service medal, Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e-Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Hijri Tamgha, Jamhuriat Tamgha & Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha.
Books
Hamid Gul has written two Urdu books. The first book, Ifay Ehad, was published in 2012 by Ilm-o-Irfan Publishers. The second book, Aik General Say Interview, is also published by Ilm-o-Irfan publisher.
Local Politics
Being head of ISI, Hamid gathered conservative politicians to create IJI. IJI stands for Islami Jamhoori Itehad against PPP. In response, unfortunately, many Pakistani newspapers have written against him.
Family
Hamid Gul’s wife died in October 2019. He has two sons and one daughter. His son Abdullah and daughter Uzma are active. Abdullah is running the office of Tehreek-e-Jawanan Pakistan and Kashmir. His daughter Uzma is also running Jammu Kashmir Solidarity Movement & Pak Kashmir Women Alliance.
Death
The great army man got a hemorrhagic stroke during his stay in Murree. His death has left the whole nation in pain and sorrow. Besides Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif & former Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, and many high officials have condoled Hamid Gul’s death.
Conclusion
Hamid Gul has the army blood in his veins. He has proved himself an honest, loyal, spiritual army personnel. He was a lion in the field during his job as well as he was a lion even after his retirement. Once in a talk show, the anchor person said he was retired, he corrected him by smiling that I am neither retired nor tired and this is a message across the border.
He has physically died but he will remain alive in the hearts. This country is indeed looking for sons like Hamid Gul. May Allah rest him in peace.