General Hamid Gul
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant General
Hamid Gul, HI(M), SBt, (Urdū
:حمید گل) (born 20 November 1936) is a retired Pakistani Army three-star general who served as the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence
agency, between 1987 and 1989 during the late stages of and after the Soviet-Afghan War. He is widely known and credited for starting the insurgency in Kashmir against India
in 1989 by diverting the mujahideen who participated in the Soviet-Afghan War to Jammu and Kashmir
in India. Gul was also instrumental in the establishment of the Taliban and was once known as the "father of the Taliban". Apart from the Kashmir militancy in India and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan
, Gul is also accused by the United States
of having ties to Islamic terrorist organizations such as the Al Qaeda.
Gul's tenure as the head of the ISI coincided with Benazir Bhutto
's term as the Prime Minister of Pakistan
. Later he established the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
, a far right wing Islamist political party against the Pakistan Peoples Party
.
of Punjab in what was then British India
but now Pakistan. He got his early education from a school in his village. He briefly got admission in Government College Lahore, before reporting to Pakistan Military Academy
Kakul
.
in October 1958 with the 18th PMA Long Course in the 19th Lancers regiment of the Armoured Corps. He was a Tank commander during the 1965 war with India. During 1972-1976, Gul directly served under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
as a battalion commander, when General Zia was GOC, 1st Armoured Division and Commander, II Corps at Multan. Thus, Gul had already cemented his ties with General Zia by serving under him when both were officers in the Armoured regiments of the II Corps. Gul was promoted to Brigadier
in 1978 and steadily rose to be the Martial Law Administrator of Bahawalpur
and the Commander of the 1st Armoured Division, Multan in 1982, his appointments expressly wished by Zia himself.
or DG Military Intelligence
(DGMI) under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
who then nominated him to be the ISI chief succeeding General Akhtar Abdur Rahman
in March 1987. He was later replaced as the ISI commander by PM
Benazir Bhutto
in May 1989 and Gul was transferred as the commander, II Corps
in Multan. In this capacity, Gul conducted the Zarb-e-Momin military exercise in November–December 1989, the biggest Pakistani Armed Forces show of muscle since 1971 Indo-Pakistani War
.
General Asif Nawaz
upon taking the reins of Pakistan Army in August 1991, had Gul transferred as the DG Heavy Industries Taxila
. A menial job compared to Gul's stature, Gul refused to take the assignment, an act for which he was retired from the army.
, Gul was blamed for planning and executing the operation to capture Jalalabad from the Afghan army
in the spring of 1989. This switch to conventional warfare was seen as a mistake by some mujahideen leaders who considered that the mujahideen
did not have the capacity to capture a major city. But the Pakistani army was intent on installing a fundamentalist-dominated government in Afghanistan, with Jalalabad
as their provisional capital, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
as Prime Minister
, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
as Foreign Minister
.
Contrary to Pakistani expectations, this battle proved that the Afghan army could fight without Soviet help, and greatly increased the confidence of government supporters. Conversely, the morale of the mujahideen involved in the attack slumped and many local commanders of Hekmatyar and Sayyaf concluded truces with the government. In the words of Brigadier Mohammad Yousef, an officer of the ISI, "the jihad
[meaning the plans for Hekmatyar to be installed as prime minister] never recovered from Jalalabad". As a result of this failure, Hamid Gul was sacked by Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
and replaced by Shamsur Rahman Kallu, who pursued a more classical policy of support to the militants fighting Afghanistan.
, a religio-political conservative coalition against the left-leaning liberal Pakistan Peoples Party
. He has recently acknowledged this fact in various interviews and for this he was harshly rebuked in one of editorials of a major Pakistani newspaper, which asked the general to apologize first to the PPP for having done the sordid deed and after that, apologizing for lack of wits because the IJI could not maintain its two-thirds majority for long.
. "When Bhutto
became prime minister in 1988", Raman says, "Gul justified backing these insurgents as the only way of preempting a fresh Indian threat to Pakistan's territorial integrity. When she asked him to stop playing that card, he reportedly told her: Madam, keeping Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistan army having an extra division at no cost to the taxpayers." "Gul strongly advocated supporting indigenous Kashmiri groups", adds Raman, "but was against infiltrating Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries into Jammu and Kashmir. He believed Pakistan would play into India's hands by doing so."
, Gul asked that Iran
should explain its bona fides regarding the pact signed with India to jointly counter terrorism. According to him, "Iran should come clear on the nature of agreement with India. Otherwise this will create doubts and apprehensions in Muslim Ummah that Iran helps RAW
in putting down Kashmir jihad". He also added that in case doubts about the agreement came true and Iran
was seen as working with India against "Kashmir
freedom struggle", then it will be concluded that the country also supports Mossad
, Israeli external intelligence agency.
when he was the ISI
chief. But, he became passionately anti-American after the United States turned its back on Afghanistan
following the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, as the United States had promised to help build a prosperous Afghanistan. He was further disconcerted when the USA began punishing Pakistan
with economic and military sanctions for its secret nuclear program. General Gul then went on to declare that "the Muslim world must stand united to confront the U.S. in its so-called War on Terrorism
, which is in reality a war against Muslims. Let's destroy America wherever its troops are trapped."
General Gul personally met Osama Bin Laden
in 1993 and refused to label him a terrorist unless and until irrefutable evidence was provided linking him to alleged acts of terrorism.
That interview was not published by newspapers.
were part of the 9 January 2001 Darul Uloom Haqqania
Islamic conference held near Peshawar
, which was also attended by 300 leaders representing various Islamic groups. The meeting declared it a religious duty of Muslims all over the world to protect the Taliban government, and the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden
it was hosting, whom they considered as a 'great Muslim warrior.'
. General Gul faced down riot police when they tried to arrest him at a rally outside the Supreme Court
in Islamabad
protesting against attempts to dismiss Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
.
He turned against the restored Supreme Court chief justice after a bench allowed Musharraf to contest the elections in uniform.
in a letter to President Musharaf written on 16 October 2007 named Hamid Gul as one of the four persons including the current Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief Ijaz Shah
, the then chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
, then chief minister of Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim
, she suspected were behind the attacks. Gul responded furiously to these claims. He was arrested on November 4 by the Military police in Islamabad
during President Pervez Musharraf's declared state of emergency
.
. The United States government has included Hamid Gul's name in a list of 4 former ISI officers for inclusion in the list of international terrorists that was sent to UN Secretary General, but China refused.
Gul has been informed by a senior official in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry that he had been placed on a U.S. watch list of global terrorists, along with several others. He was shown a U.S. document that detailed several charges against him, including allegations that he had ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
On December 14, 2008 President of Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari
in an interview with Newsweek
described Hamid Gul as a political ideologue of terror.
In July 2010, Wikileaks
released over 92,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan
between 2004 and the end of 2009. In those documents Gul was accused of backing Taliban Insurgency against western forces to disrupt the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Hamid Gul, HI(M), SBt, (Urdū
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
:حمید گل) (born 20 November 1936) is a retired Pakistani Army three-star general who served as the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
(ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
agency, between 1987 and 1989 during the late stages of and after the Soviet-Afghan War. He is widely known and credited for starting the insurgency in Kashmir against India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1989 by diverting the mujahideen who participated in the Soviet-Afghan War to Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
in India. Gul was also instrumental in the establishment of the Taliban and was once known as the "father of the Taliban". Apart from the Kashmir militancy in India and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Gul is also accused by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of having ties to Islamic terrorist organizations such as the Al Qaeda.
Gul's tenure as the head of the ISI coincided with Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
's term as the Prime Minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
. Later he established the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad or Islamic Democratic Alliance was formed in September 1988 to oppose the Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year...
, a far right wing Islamist political party against the Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
.
Early life
Hamid Gul was born on 20 November 1936 to Muhammad Khan, in the Sargodha DistrictSargodha District
Sargodha District is a district of Punjab province, Pakistan, the capital of the district is Sargodha. It is an agricultural district, wheat, rice, and sugarcane being its main crops. The Sargodha district and region are also famous for citrus fruit; kino is a newly developed variety...
of Punjab in what was then British India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
but now Pakistan. He got his early education from a school in his village. He briefly got admission in Government College Lahore, before reporting to Pakistan Military Academy
Pakistan Military Academy
The Pakistan Military Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service military academy. It is located at Kakul near Abbottabad in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan....
Kakul
Kakul
Kakul is a town situated in the Kakul Valley at an elevation of 1300 metres, 5 km northeast of Abbottabad city near the Thandiani Hills, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The population is around 30,000.-History:...
.
Army career
Hamid Gul was commissioned in the Pakistan ArmyPakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
in October 1958 with the 18th PMA Long Course in the 19th Lancers regiment of the Armoured Corps. He was a Tank commander during the 1965 war with India. During 1972-1976, Gul directly served under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
as a battalion commander, when General Zia was GOC, 1st Armoured Division and Commander, II Corps at Multan. Thus, Gul had already cemented his ties with General Zia by serving under him when both were officers in the Armoured regiments of the II Corps. Gul was promoted to Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
in 1978 and steadily rose to be the Martial Law Administrator of Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur , located in the province of Punjab, is the twelfth largest city in Pakistan. The city was once the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The city was home to various Nawabs and counted as part of the Rajputana states...
and the Commander of the 1st Armoured Division, Multan in 1982, his appointments expressly wished by Zia himself.
Saudi influence
Gul was then sent to GHQ as the Director-GeneralDirector-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
or DG Military Intelligence
Military Intelligence of Pakistan
In Pakistan Defence Forces, the Directorate-General for the Military Intelligence , is a Pakistan Defence Forces intelligence agency and that is responsible for the military counter-intelligence. It also refers specifically to the intelligence components of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Unlike the...
(DGMI) under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
who then nominated him to be the ISI chief succeeding General Akhtar Abdur Rahman
Akhtar Abdur Rahman
General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan , born in Rampur, was a 4-star general in the Pakistan Army. He served as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987–1988 and as Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence from 1980-1987...
in March 1987. He was later replaced as the ISI commander by PM
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
in May 1989 and Gul was transferred as the commander, II Corps
II Corps (Pakistan)
The II Corps, known as II Strike Corps or Army Reserve South, is army corps of Pakistan Army stationed in Multan, Punjab Province of Pakistan. The II Strike Corps is one of Pakistan's four heavy armoured corps...
in Multan. In this capacity, Gul conducted the Zarb-e-Momin military exercise in November–December 1989, the biggest Pakistani Armed Forces show of muscle since 1971 Indo-Pakistani War
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
.
General Asif Nawaz
Asif Nawaz
General Asif Nawaz Janjua, NI, HI, SBt , afwc, psc , was a senior four-star general and the 10th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from August 16, 1991 till January 8, 1993. His tenure was cut short by his death after suffering a heart attack...
upon taking the reins of Pakistan Army in August 1991, had Gul transferred as the DG Heavy Industries Taxila
Heavy Industries Taxila
Heavy Industries Taxila is the backbone of Pakistan's engineering industry for the Pakistan Armed Forces, being a combination of multiple industries that has grown into a large military complex since 1980. It consists of six major production units and their support facilities, staffed by over 6500...
. A menial job compared to Gul's stature, Gul refused to take the assignment, an act for which he was retired from the army.
Execution of failed Jalalabad operation
During his time as head of the ISI and the Soviet war in AfghanistanSoviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
, Gul was blamed for planning and executing the operation to capture Jalalabad from the Afghan army
Military of Afghanistan
The military of Afghanistan is composed of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Army Air Force . Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan has no navy, and the private security forces who are sometimes seen wearing military uniforms are not part of Afghanistan's military...
in the spring of 1989. This switch to conventional warfare was seen as a mistake by some mujahideen leaders who considered that the mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
did not have the capacity to capture a major city. But the Pakistani army was intent on installing a fundamentalist-dominated government in Afghanistan, with Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
as their provisional capital, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
Ustad Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf is an Afghan Islamist politician. He took part in the war against the PDPA government in the 1980s, leading the Mujahedin faction Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan....
as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Afghanistan
The Prime Minister of Afghanistan is a currently defunct post in the Afghan Government.The position was created in 1927, and was appointed by the king, mostly as an advisor, until the end of the monarchy in 1973...
, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan Mujahideen leader who is the founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party and paramilitary group. Hekmatyar was a rebel military commander during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and was one of the key figures in the civil war that followed the...
as Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Afghanistan)
The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MFA - is the Government of Afghanistan Cabinet officer responsible for managing the Foreign relations of Afghanistan.-Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan:-External links:*...
.
Contrary to Pakistani expectations, this battle proved that the Afghan army could fight without Soviet help, and greatly increased the confidence of government supporters. Conversely, the morale of the mujahideen involved in the attack slumped and many local commanders of Hekmatyar and Sayyaf concluded truces with the government. In the words of Brigadier Mohammad Yousef, an officer of the ISI, "the jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
[meaning the plans for Hekmatyar to be installed as prime minister] never recovered from Jalalabad". As a result of this failure, Hamid Gul was sacked by Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
and replaced by Shamsur Rahman Kallu, who pursued a more classical policy of support to the militants fighting Afghanistan.
Organization of IJI against PPP
During his tenure as ISI chief in 1988, General Gul successfully gathered right-wing politicians and helped them create Islami Jamhoori IttehadIslami Jamhoori Ittehad
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad or Islamic Democratic Alliance was formed in September 1988 to oppose the Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year...
, a religio-political conservative coalition against the left-leaning liberal Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
. He has recently acknowledged this fact in various interviews and for this he was harshly rebuked in one of editorials of a major Pakistani newspaper, which asked the general to apologize first to the PPP for having done the sordid deed and after that, apologizing for lack of wits because the IJI could not maintain its two-thirds majority for long.
Indian front
According to B Raman, an Indian strategic analyst, Gul actively backed Khalistani terrorismKhalistan
Khalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
. "When Bhutto
Bhutto
Bhutto is a Sindhi, Rajput tribe settled in Sindh, Pakistan.-Bhutto tribe:The Bhutto tribe is a Rajput tribe that has been settled in Sindh for over two centuries, occupying part of Balochistan in Kachhi, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Bhag and Mithri, having migrated to Sindh from Jaiselmere in India...
became prime minister in 1988", Raman says, "Gul justified backing these insurgents as the only way of preempting a fresh Indian threat to Pakistan's territorial integrity. When she asked him to stop playing that card, he reportedly told her: Madam, keeping Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistan army having an extra division at no cost to the taxpayers." "Gul strongly advocated supporting indigenous Kashmiri groups", adds Raman, "but was against infiltrating Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries into Jammu and Kashmir. He believed Pakistan would play into India's hands by doing so."
Iranian front
In IslamabadIslamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, Gul asked that Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
should explain its bona fides regarding the pact signed with India to jointly counter terrorism. According to him, "Iran should come clear on the nature of agreement with India. Otherwise this will create doubts and apprehensions in Muslim Ummah that Iran helps RAW
Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965 convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent...
in putting down Kashmir jihad". He also added that in case doubts about the agreement came true and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
was seen as working with India against "Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
freedom struggle", then it will be concluded that the country also supports Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
, Israeli external intelligence agency.
Turning against the United States
General Gul worked closely with the CIA during the Soviet occupation of AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
when he was the ISI
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
chief. But, he became passionately anti-American after the United States turned its back on Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
following the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, as the United States had promised to help build a prosperous Afghanistan. He was further disconcerted when the USA began punishing Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
with economic and military sanctions for its secret nuclear program. General Gul then went on to declare that "the Muslim world must stand united to confront the U.S. in its so-called War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, which is in reality a war against Muslims. Let's destroy America wherever its troops are trapped."
General Gul personally met Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in 1993 and refused to label him a terrorist unless and until irrefutable evidence was provided linking him to alleged acts of terrorism.
Accusation of US and Israel behind 9/11
Only days after the September 11 attacks he stated that they were clearly an inside job.That interview was not published by newspapers.
Solidarity with Osama bin Laden
According to Zahid Hussain, in his book Frontline Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul and former Army chief General Mirza Aslam BegMirza Aslam Beg
General Mirza Aslam Beg, SBt, HI, NI, afwc, psc , is a retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army succeeding General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter died in an air crash on 17 August 1988...
were part of the 9 January 2001 Darul Uloom Haqqania
Darul Uloom Haqqania
Darul Uloom Haqqania is an Islamic religious seminary located in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The seminary propagates the Deobandi trend of Sunni Islam and was founded along the lines of Darul Uloom Deoband....
Islamic conference held near Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, which was also attended by 300 leaders representing various Islamic groups. The meeting declared it a religious duty of Muslims all over the world to protect the Taliban government, and the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
it was hosting, whom they considered as a 'great Muslim warrior.'
Support for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry
On March 12, 2007, Gul marched shoulder-to-shoulder with activists from the liberal democratic parties and retired former senior military officers against General Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
. General Gul faced down riot police when they tried to arrest him at a rally outside the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court is the apex court in Pakistan's judicial hierarchy, the final arbiter of legal and constitutional disputes. The Supreme Court has a permanent seat in Islamabad. It has number of Branch Registries where cases are heard. It has a number of de jure powers which are outlined in the...
in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
protesting against attempts to dismiss Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the current Chief Justice of Pakistan.He became chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court in 2005 and soon became not only a central figure in the nation's political struggles but an icon to the country's legal profession and others campaigning for the rule of law...
.
He turned against the restored Supreme Court chief justice after a bench allowed Musharraf to contest the elections in uniform.
Accusation by Benazir Bhutto
Days after the 2007 Karachi bombings, Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
in a letter to President Musharaf written on 16 October 2007 named Hamid Gul as one of the four persons including the current Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief Ijaz Shah
Ijaz Shah
Brigadier Ijaz Shah is a retired Pakistan Army officer and the former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan, and a long-term close associate of Pervez Musharraf, and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence operator. He resigned as the IB chief on 17 March 2008...
, the then chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi , is a Pakistani politician. He was the Chief Minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, from 2002 to 2007. He is a senior leader and Provincial President of Pakistan Muslim League, Punjab....
, then chief minister of Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim
Arbab Ghulam Rahim
Dr. Arbab Ghulam Rahim remained the Chief Minister of the Government of Sindh during 2004-2007.He was born on 15 September 1957.He belongs to District Tharparkar in the province of Sindh, Pakistan...
, she suspected were behind the attacks. Gul responded furiously to these claims. He was arrested on November 4 by the Military police in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
during President Pervez Musharraf's declared state of emergency
2007 Pakistani state of emergency
A state of emergency was declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007, and lasted until December 15, 2007,during which time the constitution of Pakistan was suspended....
.
Terrorism charges
He has acknowledged being a member of banned militant organization Ummah Tameer-e-NauUmmah Tameer-e-Nau
Ummah Tameer-e-Nau or UTN is a militant organization banned by United States Department of the Treasury on December 20, 2001. It was also placed on Patriot Act Terrorist Exclusion List...
. The United States government has included Hamid Gul's name in a list of 4 former ISI officers for inclusion in the list of international terrorists that was sent to UN Secretary General, but China refused.
Gul has been informed by a senior official in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry that he had been placed on a U.S. watch list of global terrorists, along with several others. He was shown a U.S. document that detailed several charges against him, including allegations that he had ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
On December 14, 2008 President of Pakistan
President of Pakistan
The President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....
in an interview with Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
described Hamid Gul as a political ideologue of terror.
In July 2010, Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
released over 92,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
between 2004 and the end of 2009. In those documents Gul was accused of backing Taliban Insurgency against western forces to disrupt the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.
See also
- Establishment (Pakistan)Establishment (Pakistan)The Establishment is a term used commonly by Pakistani political scientists and also by political scholars and analysts around the world for the powerful military-dominant oligarchy in Pakistan...
- History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)
External links
- Official website of Hamid Gul
- Profile of Hamid Gul
- Image of Hamid Gul taken by photographer Declan Walsh of Getty ImagesGetty ImagesGetty Images, Inc. is a stock photo agency, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a supplier of stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage...
Gul's home in RawalpindiRawalpindiRawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
. - Stein, Jeff. "The audacity of Hamid Gul." The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. July 26, 2010. - "Gulled by Hamid Gul." The Washington TimesThe Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
. Friday December 4, 2009.