Mirza Aslam Beg

Mirza Aslam Beg is a retired four-star general who served as the third Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He held this position from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His leadership began following the death of President General Zia-ul-Haq in an air crash on 17 August 1988.

Early life and education

Beg was born on 15 February 1928 in the village of Muslimpatti, located in the Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, British India. He belonged to an Urdu-speaking Muhajir family of eleven children, which included eight sons and three daughters. His family maintained well-known ties to Mughal nobility, tracing ancestral roots back to the imperial family that ruled India from the early 15th century to the early 18th century. His father, Mirza Murtaza Beg, worked as an advocate and practiced law at the Allahabad High Court.

He completed his high school education in Azamgarh before enrolling at Shibli National College in 1945 for undergraduate studies. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from the college in 1949. During his time as a student, Beg played collegiate field hockey as a member of a team composed mainly of Muslims. Following his graduation in 1949, his family decided to move to Pakistan after the 1947 partition.

Career

Beg traveled from Bombay to Karachi via a Royal Pakistan Navy ship in 1949. After being encouraged by his elder brother, who was already a commissioned officer, he joined the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in 1950. He graduated with the 6th PMA Long Course in 1952 and received a commission as a 2Lt. in the 6 Baloch Regiment. He earned promotions to army lieutenant in 1956 and army captain in 1958.

In 1958, he traveled to the United States to undergo special forces training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Upon his return to Pakistan in 1960, he joined the Army Special Service Group (SSG) to command a company specializing in military infiltration. He saw combat in Western Pakistan while leading a company to remove the Nawab of Dir in Chitral. During the 1965 war with India, he led a Special Forces team against the Indian Army.

Beg was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1967 and attended the National Defence University (NDU). He graduated with an MSc in Strategic studies in 1971 after attending the Armed Forces War College. During his tenure in East-Pakistan, he served as a military adviser to the Eastern Command. He became highly critical of the strategy used by Lieutenant-General A.A.K. Niazi and argued against military interference in political events. These disagreements with senior staff led to his transfer back to Pakistan.

He earned an MSc in War Studies in 1972 and published a thesis titled "A journey of pain and fear." This work analyzed state-sponsored terrorism and its impact on geo-military positions. He accepted a professorship at the NDU in 1975 and served as the Chief Instructor of the Armed Forces War College until January 1978. In 1978, he left academia to accept a two-star command appointment as Major-General and GOC of the 14th Army Division in Okara.

Beg assumed the role of Chief of Army Staff in 1988. His term included the election of Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister in November 1988. He was accused of financing the Islamic Democracy Alliance (IDA) to oppose the PPP and allegedly rigging the 1990 general elections for Nawaz Sharif. In 2012, former ISI Chief Asad Durrani stated in an affidavit that Beg ordered the disbursement of Rs140 million to influence political rivals. This money was reportedly moved through Mehranbank CEO Younus Habib using foreign exchange reserves. Beg was replaced by General Asif Nawaz in 1991 after being denied an extension by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

After his military service, Beg taught at the NDU from 1994 to 1999. He also authored two books regarding national security and international relations. He continues to write columns for The Nation.

Personal life

Beg's family moved to Pakistan in 1949 following the partition of India. He has described Pakistan as his "dream country" in his memoirs. In 2012, Ijaz-ul-Haq accused him of being responsible for the airplane crash that killed General Zia-ul-Haq. Additionally, Asghar Khan filed a human rights petition in 1996 regarding the manipulation of the 1990 elections.