First Muslim general in Indian army?

Answer 1

It is very difficult to answer , l as Indian Army is a secular organization and does not declare the religious affiliations of its cadre, still based on research through net and books we can say that in independent India there has never been aMuslim General (Chief of Staff) in India , till date , though , It is sheer coincidence that people, belonging various minority religious groups in India -- Sikhs (Gen J.J Singh, & present incumbent Gen Bikram Singh ),

Christian (Gen Rodrigues ) and Parsi ( Field Marshal Maneckshaw) have risen to ' Chief of Army Staff/General , except a Muslim ,Lt Gen Zamir -uddin Shah,Deputy chief of Army Staff (first Muslim to reach such a office), had the best chance of becoming 'a full General and GAS-Chief of Army Staff, before he retired in 2008.

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So for records , Lt General Mohammed Ahmed Zaki is the first to have risen to the 2nd Highest Rank of Independent Indian Army ( i.e Lt General ) in as late as 1988,while his brother-in-law Lt Gen Jameel Mahmood , went on to command the 'Eastern Command'(1st Muslim to be G-O-C of a Command)

Story of Indian Muslims in Indian Armed Forces

The story of Indian Muslims in India's armed forces is very interesting . In the Indian Army, there are certain regiments with fixed community composition: the Sikh, Kumaon, Dogra and Jat regiments. For the rest of the army, as per government policy, all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or religion, are eligible for enrolment. Recruitment to the army is made from among the recruitable male population of each state as determined in the census.

At the time of Partition, the Muslim regiments which went to Pakistan were those comprising people belonging to areas that fell within the new nation's territory. The departure of this large chunk drastically reduced the percentage of Muslims in the Indian Army. Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers were given a choice and a large number of them who served in regiments with troops belonging to divided India opted to stay here ( officers like Brigadier M. Usman his brother Bigadier Gufran --and Major Anwar Karim ).

Brig Usman was born on July 15, 1912 at Bibipur which is a part of today's Azamgarh District in Uttar Pradesh. He was commissioned in the Baloch regiment and was transferred to Dogra Regiment in 1947 when he opted for Indian Army , as Baloch Regiment was transferred to Pakistan Army.He commanded 50 Para Brigade in 1947-48 war and was killed in artillery shelling in at Jhangar on July 3 1948.He received MVC Indias second highest gallantry award.

Brigadier Ghufran was the brother of Brigadier Usman and another Muslim officer remained in India was Major Anwar Karim , brother of retd Major Gen Afsar Karim .

Here is the list of (Muslim) Lt Genearals ( 2nd Highest rank of -Army after General ) of Independent India:

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1.Lt General M. A . Zaki -- served as security adviser to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and as a VC of AMU, Aligarh. Gen.Zaki's younger brother is a brigadier, while his brother-in-law Lt Gen Jameel Mahmood , went on to command the 'Eastern Command'

2. Lt General Jameel Mahmood ---was GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, when he died with his wife in a helicopter crash.in 1980s. While his son has been Colonel Adil Mahmood, 16th Cavalry, commandant of the President's Bodyguard. His, younger brother also retired as a Major General.

3.Lt General Sami Khan ( Madras Regiment) - has been Commandant of NDA(National Defence Academy ) Pune.(16 Aug 1985 -2 Nov 1986)

4. Lt General Zamiruddin Shah -- interestingly , elder brother of Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah and went on to become ' Deputy Chief of Army Staff -a post which is next to 2 Senior most officers-'Vice Chief of Army Staff-a Lt General and 'Chief of Staff- a General ( Chief of Staff) ) - - > the best a muslim officer in Indian Army has achieved till date. His cousin too, Colonel M.A. Shah has commanded 73rd Armoured Regiment.

5. Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain- He is the current Military Secretary (first Muslim to reach ) of the Indian Army. He was previously commanding an Army Corps in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir [ He is presently the only serving Muslim officer of the rank of Lieutenant General in the Indian Army

List of (Muslim) Major Generals (3rd Highest rank of Army after Lt General in Independent India "

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1.Major General Enayat Habibllah : of 16th Cavalry, father of Wajahat Habibullah, IAS, secretary, Right to Information and Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Pune (15 Jan 1953--Dec 26, 1958)

2.Major General Syed Mahdi Hasnain --during 1960s

3.Major General Afsar Karim - (during 1980s) , is a well-known military scholar, we see him , over TV as a Defence Analyst/panelist , who commanded 11 Infantry Division, headquartered in Ahmedabad and a brother of Major Anwar Karim --who was one of two officers - the other was Brig M. Usman, who died defending Jhangar, Jammu & Kashmir during the 1947-48 war - actively wooed by Pakistan to opt for it with the promise of top ranks in Pakistan Army.

4. Major General Sultan Mehmood (during 1990s)-- .Younger Brother of Lt General Jameel Mahmood ---a GOC-in-C, of Eastern Command, , who died in a helicopter crash.in 1980s.

5. Major General A S Jamal : (during 1990s).

List of Muslims in Indian Army winning highest 'Gallantry Awards '

1..Havildar Abdul Hamid (July 1, 1933 - September 10, 1965) was a soldier in the 4th Battalion, The Grenadiers of the Indian Army, who died in the Khem Karan sector during theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965, and was the posthumous recipient of the Republic of India's highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra

2.Brigadier Mohammad Usman (15 July 1912 - 3 July 1948) was the highest ranking officer of Indian Army killed in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, who as a Muslim became a "symbol of" India's "inclusive secularism" At the time of partition of India he with many other officers declined to move to the Pakistan Army and continued to serve the Indian Army. He died in July 1948 while fighting the raiders in Jammu and Kashmir .Brigadier Usman was awarded the Indian military honour Mahavir Chakra(The 2nd highest military decoration)posthumously.

Indian Air Force has done fairly good as far as representation of Muslims in upper level hierarchy is concerned.

We have had a Muslim Chief of Air Staff -Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif during 1980s.('Air Chief Marshal' is equivalent to Rank of a 'General 'of Army. He became Governor of Maharastra , too.

Muslim Officersequivalent to the 'Rank' of 'Lt General' of Army in Air Force (2nd Highst in Air Force )--

1.Air Marshal T.R.J Osman

2. Air Marshal Zafar Zaheer

3.Air Marshal S.S. H Naqvi

Muslim Officer equivalent to the 'Rank' of 'Major General 'of Army in Air Force'

1.Air Vice Marshal Syed Abbas Hussain

INDIAN NAVY : It has done badly and has hardly any Muslim Officers

and none of them hold posts of any consequence :

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The only Officer of any consequence I remember (kindly send names of Muslim officers of any substance in Indian Navy if happen to know) is Commadore S.S Lone (Commadore is equivalent to the 'Rank of Colonel of Army )

who was accused by Vice Admiral Harinder Singh, of having links with 'terrorists'.

Ironically Vice Admiral Singh ( a Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, too ) , had alleged in a sworn petition that his community (sikh) was discriminated against 'promotion , due to , the then , Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat's prejudice who was dismissed unprecentedly on 30 Dec 1998, being involved in the charge/controversy by his subordinate, Singh that his wife (Bhagwat's) ---Nilofour Bhagwat was 'half Muslim'

DR MATIN AHMAD KHAN

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