Jehangir Karamat
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| Jehangir Karamat | |
|---|---|
 General Jehangir Karamat as the Ambassador of Pakistan to United States |
|
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Service/branch | Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1961 - 1998 |
| Rank | General |
| Unit | Armoured Corps |
| Commands held | DGMO (Military Operations) Chief of General Staff (CGS) Chief of Army Staff Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 |
General (retd) Jehangir Karamat (Urdu: جہانگیر کرامت) is the former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from December 1996 to October 1998 and a former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States from November 2004 to June 2006. He is also one of very few Army chiefs to have resigned over a disagreement with the civilian authorities.
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[edit] Military career
General Karamat joined Pakistan Army in the 13th Lancers cavalry division of the Armoured Corps in 1961. He then served in the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971. He is a graduate of the National Defence College, the Command and Staff College, Quetta, and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He has a Masters degree in International Relations.
During his career, General Karamat's assignments have included being Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and Chief of General Staff (CGS). He also served in Saudi Arabia from 1985 to 1988 as the Commander of the Independent Armored Brigade Group
[edit] Army chief
Karamat was made the Army Chief by the then President Farooq Leghari in December 1996 when previous chief General Wahid Kakar's three-year term was near expiration. Karamat was then given the additional post of chairmanship of Joint Chiefs of Staff in November 1997 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when the previous chairman Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan's three-year term ended. However, Karamat was forced to resign by Sharif when he criticized Pakistan’s political leadership and advocated a national security council that would give the military a constitutional role in running the country, similar to Turkey's.[1] He retired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as Chief of Army Staff in October 1998.
[edit] Academic career
After his retirement, General Karamat became a visiting fellow at CISAC Stanford University, and the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. He was also part of a U.N.-sponsored study on Afghanistan, and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. He has stayed as the Colonel Commandant and Colonel-in-Chief, both ceremonial posts, of the Pakistan Armored Corps. He also stayed as the President of the Pakistan Polo Association.
[edit] Ambassador to the United States
General Karamat's name was first mentioned as a replacement for Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi around the end of September 2004, when Mr Qazi was appointed by Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to be his Special Representative to Iraq.
On 23 March 2006, Pakistani media reported that Ambassador Karamat was to be replaced by retired Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani. The reports further stated that it was not clear why Ambassador Karamat, who took his post on a two-year contract, would be returning home after only a year and a half.[2]
[edit] Founding think tank
After ambassadorship, General Jehangir Karamat founded a socio-political policy and analysis institute, Spearhead Research, which focuses on social, economic, military and political issues concerning Pakistan and Afghanistan. General Jehangir Karamat is the director and contributor to the Spearhead Research Institute.
[edit] References
- ^ Owen Bennett-Jones. 'Analysis: Resignation shifts balance of power' BBC News, October 8, 1998
- ^ Khalid Hasan. 'Durrani in, Karamat out' Daily Times, March 23, 2006
[edit] External links
- Brookings Institution Profile
- PakistanLink: General Karamat: An Introduction
- Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC
- Spearhead Research
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Wahid Kakar |
Chief of Army Staff 1996–1998 |
Succeeded by Pervez Musharraf |
| Preceded by Farooq Feroze Khan |
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1997–1998 |
|
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Ashraf Jehangir Qazi |
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States November 2004–June 2006 |
Succeeded by Mahmud Ali Durrani |
