Stolen Stripes and Broken Medals

            Stolen Stripes and Broken Medals succinctly and truly mirrors my military service from my early years to the pinnacle of my career including complete account of the chain of events that led to my illegal retirement from the service. This brief life story is an eye opening account for those who want to see as to what happens to those who are upright and honest but without any backing in a country like Pakistan. It also provides an inside look at the events that take place behind few self-centred top-ranking officials' closed doors who are trusted with nations’ sacred duty, and brings to light the often malevolent dealings of those powerful people in pursuit of their self-interest while totally forgetting about the justice and fair-play, careless about their constitutional duty and moral responsibility. I would like to say one thing with authority that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and the middle ranking officers are one of the best in the world, but disaster starts as it approaches the star ranks that too at the very top level. Involvement of the armed forces in politics for a long time had made a serious dent on the very institution burdened with the sacred mission of defending the sovereignty and integrity of the homeland. This will be for the first time that someone has dared to take such a bold step to touch the untouchable in the national interest.

            During my career in the Pakistan Navy I achieved what most people could only dream about, but that was real hard work and dedication to the service. God gave me success at every stage in my life in general and in my naval career in particular, until I met that ugly situation which was largely because of the high level conspiracy. What had happened to me was not something out of the world; however in my case my enemies had scooped very low and tried to opt for my character assassination when they failed to find any professional faults or financial irregularities. But for them that was the only way open to stop my further advancement in the Navy to suite their own objectives and save their skin. However, my conduct in the service supported by my service record bears testimony to my sound character, devotion to duty and professional competence. The major part of my thirty-one years service in the Navy was spent in the field that included over eleven years service on board ships. I have spent only two years on desk jobs, that too in the Operations Divisions at Naval Headquarters, as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) and the Director of Naval Operations. I also count my three years stint as Defence Attache at Colombo as the field service, where I lived through the worst kind of insurgency where I had closely and effectively followed the Indian Peace Keeping Forces’ operations in the Island. While in Sri Lanka, despite serious odds, new records were achieved in mutual defence cooperation, intelligence collaboration and defence sales.

            In return to my dedication and commitment to the service and the nation, I only appeal for justice to restore my honour. Notwithstanding the considerable time lapse, the seriousness of the case demanded an impartial judicial investigation forthwith. In fact if my case was allowed to stop here without providing justice to me, it would set the fatal trend in the service, besides the sufferings it had caused to me and my family, particularly when I had served for that long with devotion and honesty and did not commit any act against the norms of the service, society or religion. The sole responsibility now lies on the shoulders of the leadership at the helms of th armed forces and the nation to take such steps that would be necessary to safeguard the national interest in the vital field of the national security, and to restore my honour, and more importantly to expose the enemies within our ranks, irrespective of their affiliation and status.