ISLAMABAD: Four three-star generals are due to retire on Monday, informed sources told Dawn on Saturday.

Spymaster Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar is also retiring this month.

Among those retiring on Oct 1 are Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Nazir Ahmad Butt, Commander of Army’s Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) Lt Gen Mian Mohammad Hilal Hussain, Military Secretary at the General Headquarters (GHQ) Lt Gen Ghayur Mehmood and Inspector General of Training and Evaluation, GHQ, Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman.

Commissioned in the armoured corps regiment in 1983, Lt Gen Mukhtar is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta; National Defence University, Islamabad; and the United States Army War College.

He had commanded a mechanised division and served as director general of Rangers before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and posted as corps commander of Karachi in September 2014.

He served there till Dec 7, 2016 before being posted to Islamabad to head the country’s premier intelligence agency. He assumed the office of ISI director general on Dec 11, 2016.

Commissioned in Frontier Force regiment in 1983, Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed Butt is a graduate of the Command and Staff Collage, Quetta, and the NDU, Islamabad. He also served as military secretary to the prime minister and Pakistan defence attaché in the US.

He had served as commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul, and commanded an infantry division in the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies before being appointed corps commander of Peshawar in December 2016, replacing Lt Gen Hidayat-ur-Rehman who is currently serving as IG (Training and Evaluation) at the GHQ.

Commissioned in Azad Kashmir Regiment in 1983, Lt Gen Rehman is a graduate of the Command and Staff Collage, Quetta, and the NDU, Islamabad, where he later also served as chief instructor.

He also commanded an infantry division before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. He has the honour of being the first lieutenant general hailing from Gilgit-Baltistan.

Commissioned in artillery in 1982, Lt Gen Mian Mohammad Hilal Hussain was appointed as commander of the Army Strategic Force Command in September 2015.

He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, and the NDU, Islamabad. He has served as military advisor to Pakistan permanent representative in the UN and military secretary to the President of Pakistan. He commanded an infantry brigade in Fata before being his appointments as director general of Pakistan Rangers, Punjab, and DG Military Training at GHQ.

Lt Gen Ghayur Mahmood, who is currently posted as Military Secretary at GHQ, was commissioned in Frontier Force regiment in 1982.

He is a graduate of the Command and Staff Collage, Quetta, and the NDU, Islamabad. He has commanded an infantry division in Fata. The officer also served as IG FC and Vice Chief of General Staff.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2018