Muhammad Safdar

For Nawaz Sharif's son in law, see Muhammad Safdar Awan
Captain
Muhammad Safdar
23rd Governor of Punjab (Pakistan)
In office
21 October 1999  29 October 2001
President General Pervez Musharraf
Preceded by Zulfiqar Ali Khosa
Succeeded by Khalid Maqbool
Personal details
Nationality Pakistani
Political party Independent (politician)
Alma mater Military College Jhelum
Profession Lt Gen
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
Military service
Allegiance  Pakistan
Service/branch  Pakistan Army
Years of service 1960–1989
Rank Lt. Gen
Unit Punjab Regiment
Commands Command and Staff College
7th Infantry Division
National Defence University, Pakistan
Battles/wars Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Chief of General Staff Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Post-Retirement Work Pakistani Ambassador to Morocco
vice-chancellor of the Punjab University

Lt. General Muhammad Safdar is the former Governor of Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, having served from 1999 to 2001.

Army career

Muhammad Safdar belongs to Pakistan, Chakwal and is a graduate of Military College Jhelum. Later he joined Pakistan Army. During his military career, Safdar commanded an infantry brigade and the 7th Infantry Division, Peshawar, served as commandant of the Command and Staff College, Quetta from 1982 to 1985 and then reached his professional peak as Chief of General Staff (CGS) in the GHQ having served there from 1986 to 1988. His last military appointment was commandant of the National Defence College from 1988 to 1989. Safdar retired from active service in July 1989.

Political career

he was ambassador to Morocco, vice-chancellor of the Punjab University and then Governor of Punjab. The general stayed as the governor of Punjab till 29 October 2001 when he was replaced by Lahore corps commander Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool.

Views

Brigadier (r) Shaukat Qadir, a political and defence analyst, had this to say about command attributes of Safdar, "In the course of my career I came across very few inspiring senior officers; most noteworthy among them was Havaldar Safdar, who later became VC Punjab University and, very briefly, Governor Punjab, and whose extraordinary dynamism in peace inspired one to believe that he would be a success in war."[1]

Brigadier (r) Raja Azizur Rehman, a close friend and colleague of the governor, said this about the new governor when he was appointed in 1999, "he is consistent, professionally very sound, cool and calm. Has immense capacity for work and excels in shifting the essentials. He is soft-spoken and likes to listen, He carries a very happy team. He is very clear about his objectives and leaves no stone unturned to achieve that." The general is reputed to be well versed in the art of getting things done.

References

  1. Shaukat Qadir. "Command attributes (III)" Daily Times, 17 May 2008
Military offices
Preceded by
Mirza Aslam Beg
Chief of General Staff
1986–1988
Succeeded by
Mian Muhammad Afzaal
Political offices
Preceded by
Zulfiqar Ali Khosa
Governor of Punjab
1999–2001
Succeeded by
Khalid Maqbool
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.