A Tribute to Pakistan Army's Sipah Salaar General Raheel Sharif
- 8 years ago
General Raheel Sharif (Urdu: راحیل شریف; born 16 June 1956), NI(M), HI(M), is a four-star rank army general, currently serving as 15th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, since 2013.
Role in war on terror
As the Inspector General for Training and Evaluation, he enhanced the military colleges in the country and provided unconventional warfare training to the troops.[12] He also deals with the evaluation of military doctrines and war strategies with a view to shaping future training programs. He changed the army's focus more towards carrying out counter-insurgency operations against Taliban militants.[12]
General Sharif has spearheaded a thinking in Pakistan military since 2007 that fighting Taliban inside Pakistan is more important than focusing on India, Pakistan's arch rival since independence.
Chief of Army Staff
On 27 November 2013, Sharif was appointed as the 15th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.[8] According to sources, General Sharif is said to be uninterested in politics with very positive and balanced views. But he was elevated over two more senior generals.[13] Lieutenant General Haroon Aslam, a senior general, resigned over Sharif's elevation.[14] The other more-senior general, Rashad Mahmood was appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.[15] The News reported that General Aslam may have been superseded because of his action in the 1999 coup.[16]
In 2013, Sharif was conferred with Nishan-e-Imtiaz (military).[17] Raheel Sharif will retire as Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan) in November 2016.[18] In September 2015, Pervez Musharraf called for extending the tenure General Sharif and warned against a change in the military leadership, saying that "he was happy to see growing popularity of General Sharif because he was doing a wonderful job which needed to be continued. I wish he carries on with all this he is doing, What he is doing right now, it needs continuity and if there is any change in the leadership amidst this all, all good work which has been done so far would go in waste. So I can only wish and suggest that he should stay there.”
According to The Economist, "Unlike his predecessors, General Sharif appears to see jihadists, principally in the form of Pakistan’s own Taliban, as the country’s greatest threat, and is credited to have initiated the successful joint operation of Zarb-e-Azb"
Role in war on terror
As the Inspector General for Training and Evaluation, he enhanced the military colleges in the country and provided unconventional warfare training to the troops.[12] He also deals with the evaluation of military doctrines and war strategies with a view to shaping future training programs. He changed the army's focus more towards carrying out counter-insurgency operations against Taliban militants.[12]
General Sharif has spearheaded a thinking in Pakistan military since 2007 that fighting Taliban inside Pakistan is more important than focusing on India, Pakistan's arch rival since independence.
Chief of Army Staff
On 27 November 2013, Sharif was appointed as the 15th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.[8] According to sources, General Sharif is said to be uninterested in politics with very positive and balanced views. But he was elevated over two more senior generals.[13] Lieutenant General Haroon Aslam, a senior general, resigned over Sharif's elevation.[14] The other more-senior general, Rashad Mahmood was appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.[15] The News reported that General Aslam may have been superseded because of his action in the 1999 coup.[16]
In 2013, Sharif was conferred with Nishan-e-Imtiaz (military).[17] Raheel Sharif will retire as Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan) in November 2016.[18] In September 2015, Pervez Musharraf called for extending the tenure General Sharif and warned against a change in the military leadership, saying that "he was happy to see growing popularity of General Sharif because he was doing a wonderful job which needed to be continued. I wish he carries on with all this he is doing, What he is doing right now, it needs continuity and if there is any change in the leadership amidst this all, all good work which has been done so far would go in waste. So I can only wish and suggest that he should stay there.”
According to The Economist, "Unlike his predecessors, General Sharif appears to see jihadists, principally in the form of Pakistan’s own Taliban, as the country’s greatest threat, and is credited to have initiated the successful joint operation of Zarb-e-Azb"