Global InformationHamid Gul information
Lieutenant General Hamid Gul HI(M) SI(M) SBt | |
|---|---|
| حمید گل | |
 | |
| 8th Director General of the ISI | |
| In office 29 March 1987 – 27 May 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Akhtar Abdur Rahman |
| Succeeded by | Shamsur Rahman Kallu |
| Corps Commander II Corps | |
| In office May 1989 – January 1992 | |
| Director General Military Intelligence | |
| In office 1983–1987 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hamid Gul 20 November 1936 Sargodha, Punjab, British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan) |
| Died | 15 August 2015 (aged 78) Murree, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Relatives | Ahmad Awais (brother-in-law) |
| Alma mater | GCU Lahore PMA Kakul |
| Occupation | Retired army officer and former spymaster |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan |
| Branch/service |  Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1956–1993 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Unit | 19th Lancers, Army Armoured Corps |
| Commands | Commander II Corps DG Military Intelligence DG ISI |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Soviet–Afghan War Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)
|
| Awards |  Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Basalat |
Lieutenant General Hamid Gul HI(M) SI(M) SBt (Urdu: حمید گل; 20 November 1936 – 15 August 2015) was a Pakistani three-star general and defence analyst. Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to Afghan resistance groups against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.[5]
In addition, Gul was widely credited for expanding covert support to Kashmiri militants[6] against neighbouring rival India in the disputed Kashmir region from 1989,[7] Gul earned a reputation as a "Godfather" of Pakistani geostrategic policies.[8][9] For his role against India, he has been considered by A. S. Dulat, former director of RAW, as "the most dangerous and infamous ISI chief in Indian eyes."[10]
In 1988 Gul also played a role in the creation of the IJI, a conservative political alliance formed to oppose the PPP of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
On 15 August 2015, he died after suffering a brain haemorrhage.[11][12]
- ^ Battle of Jalalabad - Operation Jalalabad - Pak-Afg war, 1989, retrieved 6 July 2023
- ^ Yousaf, Mohammad; Adkin, Mark. "Afghanistan – The bear trap – Defeat of a superpower". sovietsdefeatinafghanistan.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2007.
- ^ Nasir, Abbas (18 August 2015). "The legacy of Pakistan's loved and loathed Hamid Gul". Al-Jazeera. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
His commitment to jihad – to an Islamic revolution transcending national boundaries, was such that he dreamed one day the "green Islamic flag" would flutter not just over Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also over territories represented by the (former Soviet Union) Central Asian republics. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the director-general of the Pakistan's intelligence organisation, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, an impatient Gul wanted to establish a government of the so-called Mujahideen on Afghan soil. He then ordered an assault using non-state actors on Jalalabad, the first major urban centre across the Khyber Pass from Pakistan, with the aim capturing it and declaring it as the seat of the new administration. This was the spring of 1989 and a furious prime minister, Benazir Bhutto – who was kept in the dark by ... Gul and ... Mirza Aslam Beg – demanded that Gul be removed from the ISI.
- ^ Wright, Lawrence (18 August 2015). "Postscript: Hamid Gul, 1936-2015". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ Afghanistan War Infoplease.com, 22 July 2007
- ^ "Kashmiri youth remember freedom fighter". The Express Tribune. 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Bhutto Conspiracy Theories Fill the Air" Time, 28 December 2007
- ^ "Former ISI chief Hamid Gul passes away in Murree – The Express Tribune". 16 August 2015.
- ^ "Ex-Pakistan spy chief urges talks with Mullah Omar" Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine CNN, 12 March 2010
- ^ "A joint venture of spooks", Business Recorder. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- ^ "The legacy of Pakistan's loved and loathed Hamid Gul". Al Jazeera.
- ^ Masood, Salman (16 August 2015). "Hamid Gul, 78, Dies; Backed Militants in Leading Pakistan Spy Agency". The New York Times.