Three ex-generals charged with sedition held top slots in army

LAHORE: The three retired army generals, who are part of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and have been booked under sedition charges with Nawaz Sharif and others, have held top positions in their military careers.

The FIR was registered against majority of the PML-N leadership in Shahdara police station on the application of a citizen Badar Rashid.

The three retired generals included Lt-Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi, Lt-Gen Abdul Qayyum and Lt-Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch. Salahuddin Tirmizi and Abdul Qayyum are senators, elected on the PML-N seats, while Abdul Qadir Baloch was an MNA.

As per details collected from the official websites, Salahuddin Tirmizi was born on May 1, 1943 in Mansehra. After retirement, he formed an independent political group in his district Mansehra and fielded candidates in local bodies elections. The group won all the three tehsil nazims and district nazim seats against the official candidates of the then military regime.

Later, Gen Tirmizi contested 2002 general election for a National Assembly seat as part of an independent group, but lost. In 2006, he joined the PML-N and was appointed as assistant secretary general and member central executive committee of the party in 2007. He actively participated in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) and the independent judiciary. Again in 2008, he contested election on the PML-N ticket and lost. As a lieutenant general, Tirmizi has been Commander 2 Corps, Commandant National Defence College, Islamabad, and retired on March 2, 2000.

General Tirmizi held various honours and awards including Imtiazi Sanad in 1965 War, Tamgha-i-Basalat in 1973, Hilal-i-Imtiaz Military in 1995 and Sitara-i-Basalat in 1997. He also remained Chief Executive Pakistan Polo Association between 1993 and 1998. Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, in 2008 contested general election and was elected as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from constituency NA-271. In 2010, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League-N. In August 2011, he was selected by the PML-N as the assistant secretary-general of the PML-N for Balochistan. In 2013, the PML-N allotted a party ticket to Gen Baloch for the constituency NA-271 to participate in general elections. Baloch performed well in the election and defeated Ahsanullah Raki of the PPP. Later, he was appointed as minister for States and Frontier Regions by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision. Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the prime minister, Gen Baloch was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for States and Frontier Regions for the second time and continued till the dissolution of the National Assembly on the expiry of its term on 31 May 2018. During his service, Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch commanded two corps, Gujranwala and Quetta, according to Wikipedia.

Senator Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum HI (M) was elected as a senator on the general seat on the PML-N ticket from Punjab, scoring the second highest votes in the largest province of the country. He holds an MSc degree from Quaid-e-Azam University and currently chairs the Committee on Defence Production. Abdul Qayyum is a three-star retired general who has been the chairman/CEO of Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board and Pakistan Steel Mills, Board of Directors.

He is a war veteran of 1971 Indo-Pak war and has been member of faculty of National Defence College. He has also served as Military Secretary with two Prime Ministers of Pakistan. He is a renowned national politico-defence analyst, a popular Urdu language columnist and an author of five books.