- Musa Khan
Infobox Person
name = Musa Khan
caption = General Musa Khan greeting schoolgirls.
birth_date = 20th Oct. 1908
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death_date =12th March 1991
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known_for = 4th Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Armed forces (1958-1969)
Governor of : West Pakistan and Baluchistan
Author of: "My Version" –
"Jawan to General"
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footnotes =General Musa Khan HazaraHJ MBE (موسى خان) (1991-1908) was the Chief of Pakistan's Army Staff. He succeeded Field MarshalAyub Khan , who assumed the Presidency ofPakistan .He was the eldest son of Sardar Yazdan Khan, born in a Hazara family in
Quetta , he was from the Sardar family of the Hazara tribe in Balochistan,Pakistan . He was a "Naik" (Junior Officer) in theHazara Pioneers and went to theIndia n Military Academy in "Dehra Dun" as a cadet and graduated with the first batch of the Indian commissioned officers. He was posted to the 6th Royal Battalion,the 13th Frontier Force Rifles as a "Platoon Commander" in 1936. He took part in theWaziristan Operations in 1936-1938 and inWorld War II , where he served inNorth Africa . He served with distinction in the Pakistani Army and rose to the rank of the commander in chief of Pakistan Armed Forces during President Mohammad Ayub Khan’s regime (1958-1969).After Gen. Musa retired from the army, President Ayub Khan appointed him as the
Governor ofWest Pakistan from 1967 to 1969. After serving for a few years, he retired and settled inKarachi . In 1987, he was once again involved in politics. He was appointedGovernor of Balochistan Province by the then President GeneralZia-ul-Haq . In Balochistan, Governor; General (Retd) Musa dissolved the provincial assembly in December 1988. However, the Balochistan High Court restored the assembly amid public condemnation of Governor's move. The step towards dissolving the assembly was believed to have been taken with the consent of the President and Prime Minister.General Mohammed Musa commanded the Army in the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 , and had overall responsibility for operations throughout the conflict. As Army Chief, he was criticised for not anticipating an assault across the international border. However he was given credit for blunting the Indian offensive towardsSialkot during theBattle of Chawinda . He has narrated the events and experiences of the war in his book "My Version". In the book he has given accounts of the secret war that was going on in Kashmir between the two countries, long before the real war actual began.General Musa Khan is the author of his autobiography, "
Jawan to General" in which he describes his lifetime experiences from a simple foot-soldier rising to become a general.He died on 12 March 1991 in
Quetta .
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