General Abdul Waheed Kakar

General Abdul Waheed Kakar (Born 23 March 1937)
(Pashto/Urdu: عبدالوحید کاکڑ‎; , NI(M), SBt, is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chief of Army Staff, appointed on 12 January 1993 until retiring on 12 January 1996.
His appointment came in response to the sudden death of tenuring army chief, General Asif Nawaz, and notably superseded five senior high ranking army generals with more years of seniority. Together with Chairman joint chiefs General Shamim Allam, General Kakar oversaw the national general elections, after he secured the resignations of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resolve the Constitutional crisis in 1993.

Abdul Waheed Kakar was born into a Pashtun family of Kakar tribe in suburbs of Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province in India on 23 March 1937.:2 His tribe, Kakar, originailly hailed from Zhob, Baluchistan in India, and was fluent in Pashto.:107–108 His family later had migrated to North and eventually found a way to settled in Peshawar.
His uncle, Abdur Rab Nishtar, was among listed as one of the founding fathers of Pakistan who would later served as the Governor of Punjab as well as serving as the President of Pakistan Muslim League.:2 After graduating from local high school in 1955, Kakar went to attend the Edwardes College where he secured his graduation.:4–5 He joined the Pakistan Army in 1956, and was directed to attend the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul where he was expected to be pass out from the academy in 1958 but was held back for one more year after failing a semester.:502 Eventually, Waheed gained commissioned in the Frontier Force Regiment in 1959 as a 2nd-Lt.:85–86
His combat duty witnessed the military actions in Chawinda in Sialkot Punjab in Pakistan against the Indian Army during the conflict with India in 1965.:2–3 In 1971, Major Kakar served as the brigade major of an independent infantry stationed at the Sulemanki sector, and fought against the Indian Army.:5–6 His combat duty during the actions of both wars served in his reputation as scenes of major battles in the respective wars.
After the war, Major Kakar was selected to attend the Command and Staff College in Canada, where he stood first in the examinations and qualified as a psc.:85–86 He was later selected to attend the, where he completed a staff course program. Upon returning from Canada, he continued his education when he was selected to attend the National Defence University (NDU) where he studied and attained graduation in War studies degree at the Armed Forces War College (afwc) of the National Defence University.:4–5
In 1976–78, Brig. Kakar was appointed as Chief of Staff of the II Corps, stationed in Multan, commanded by then-Lieutenant-General Rahimuddin Khan. In 1984, Major-General Kakar was subsequently given the command of the 16th Infantry Division in Quetta as its GOC. In 1987–89, Maj-Gen. Kakar was appointed as an Adjutant-General at the Army GHQ, and ultimately refused to admit a student in the Army Medical College despite receiving the direct orders from President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, but was forced to do so as the President ordered the increase of overall seats that accommodated the student. In 1989, Lieutenant-General Kakar was posted as field commander of the XII Corps, stationed in Quetta.