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Gen.M. Iftikhar Khan

Major General Muhammed Iftikhar Khan was one of the finest officers which the Pakistan Army inherited from British India. He had been nominated to become the first local Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army after General Douglas David Gracey's retirement. However, his death in a tragic plane crash in 1949 was a disaster for the newly formed country.

Hasan Abbas, in his book, “Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism”, in Chapter 2 page 26, describes a watershed incident that occurred in 1949 that had “a huge impact on the military and political history of Pakistan, but is often ignored by historians”. The incident reported was the plane crash at Jungshahi which had on board the designated next commander-in-chief of Pakistan, Major General Iftikhar Khan. According to Major General Sher Ali, the history of Pakistan would have been different if Major General Iftikhar Khan had become C-in-C of the Pakistan Army, because he would never have allowed the army to be used for political purposes and would never have used his position as a doorway to political power.

Muhammed Iftikhar Khan belonged to the famous Mair Minhas Rajput tribe of Chakwal. His father Sirdar Bahadur, Raja FazalDad Khan was big Land Lord and worked with cavalry of the British Army. Five of his seven brothers joined the Army and became officers. His elder brother, Muhammed Akbar Khan was the first Indian Muslim to become a General in the British Indian Army. His brother, Brigadier Muhammed Zafar was the first Indian Commander of Cavalry and his brother General Muammed Anwar Khan was the first EnC of Pakistan Army.