Kunwar Moeez Khan

Lieutenant General Muhammad Masood Aslam, HI, HI(M), SJ: the Pakistan Army officer who was wounded as a young subaltern, and later led the fight to clear Swat, Bajaur and South Waziristan. Commissioned into 4 Punjab Regiment on 14 November 1971, Second Lieutenant Masood Aslam joined his unit near Gujrat just as the war with India began. Within weeks he was seriously wounded in the Chhamb Sector, attacking enemy positions across the River Tawi. He was awarded the Imtiazi Sanad (Mention in Despatches) and a golden wound stripe. He was a young officer, and the wound did not end his service. Over the next 40 years, he commanded troops on the Line of Control and at Siachen, and rose to General Officer Commanding, Jhelum Division. As brigade commander during the 1999 Kargil conflict, he earned the Sitara-i-Jurat for exceptional bravery and courageous leadership. From 2007 to 2010, as Commander 11 Corps, he led the campaigns to clear Bajaur, Dir, Swat, Buner, Shangla, Darra Adam Khel, Kurram, Orakzai and South Waziristan. He was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz for his services in bringing peace to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He earlier served as Inspector General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) of the Pakistan Army and as Director General, NAB. For his distinguished military service, he received the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military), and on retirement he served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Mexico. In 2009, while he was leading the campaigns in KP, he lost his only son in a suicide attack at the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi. Few stories in Pakistan’s military history show so clearly what duty can cost a family. His portrait, with the plaque telling his story, is held at the Army Institute of Military History. He remains an inspiration to generations of Army officers.