ISLAMABAD: Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), retired Gen Khalid Shamim Wynne, and his friend died in a road accident on the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway on Saturday.

The accident took place near Chakri, an Inter-Services Public Relations statement said.

According to sources, Mr Wynne along with his son and friend was going to Lahore when his vehicle overturned after one of its tyres burst. After the tyre burst the driver lost control over the steering wheel, they added.

Mr Wynne’s son and the driver of the vehicle were injured in the accident. They were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Rawalpindi.

According to a statement issued by Motorway Police, after the tyre burst the Land Cruiser collided with the road divider and then overturned. The police shifted the four men to hospital. However, Mr Wynne and his friend Muhammad Zubair died during treatment.

Mr Wynne retired as a four-star general. During his career, he held various command, staff and instructional appointments.

His father, Col Arshad Shamim Wynne, also belonged to the Pakistan Army and served it till 1972.

After his intermediate examination in 1971, Mr Wynne joined the army, passing out in April 1972 in the 1st Special War Course to join his father’s battalion, 20th Punjab Regiment.

He later commanded his own 20th Battalion of the Punjab Regiment, two Infantry Brigades, including the 323 Infantry Brigade in Siachen, the 41st Infantry Division in Quetta and the Southern Command in Quetta.

On the academic side, he held various instructional appointments and served on the faculty of the School of Infantry and Tactics Quetta, Command and Staff College, Quetta, and Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul.

Gen Wynne served as chief of staff in a corps headquarters and commandant of the School of Infantry and Tactics, Quetta. He also served in the General Staff Directorate, working as deputy chief of general staff from 2006 to 2007.

He was appointed as 14th CJCSC during the Pakistan Peoples Party government led by then president Asif Ali Zardari, and retired on Oct 7, 2013.

Prior to his elevation, Gen Wynne had served as the chief of general staff at the General Headquarters.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2017