Vice-Admiral Afzal Akram Rahman Khan ( Urdu: افضل رحمان خان; born: 1921— 2005; popularly known as Admiral A. R. Khan), HQA,

HPk Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

, HJ, was a Pakistan Navy admiral,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, and the Commander in Chief of Pakistan Navy, serving under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ayub Khan from 1959 until 1966. Prior to that, he also simultaneously served in the Ayub Khan's

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

as an Interior Minister and Defence Minister until resigning when General

Yahya Khan General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan , (Urdu: ; 4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980); commonly known as Yahya Khan, was a Pakistani military general who served as the third President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator following his p ...

, an Army Commander-in-Chief, enforced a

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in 1969. Gaining commission in

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. F ...

in 1938, he served in first war with India in 1947 in non-combat operations but earned notability and prestige when he commanded the Pakistan Navy against

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

with India in 1965. In addition, he is noted for being the longest serving commander-in-chief of

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

as well as responsible for launching and introducing the submarine program in the navy.

Biography

Afzal Akram Rahman Khan Vardak was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on 20 March 1921, His family migrated from Gurdaspur, Ex-Senator Asif Fasihuddin Vardak is relative of him, and it is known very little on his early life primarily based on literature published in combined military history of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. As many of his contemporaries in the British Indian military, he was educated at the

Rashtriya Indian Military College The Rashtriya Indian Military College (abbreviated RIMC; formerly known as Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College) is a military school for boys and girls situated in Doon Valley, Dehradun in India. The RIMC is a feeder institution for ...

at Dehradun, and gained commission as a Midshipman in the

in 1938. He was also trained as

naval artillery Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and exclude ...

specialist from

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and participated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on behalf of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. After

, he studied at the Command and Staff College in 1945 and graduated with a staff course degree in 1946. During this time, he was contemporary to

Gopal Gurunath Bewoor General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor PVSM PB (11 August 1916 – 24 October 1989), was a senior officer of the Indian Army who served as the 8th Chief of Army Staff, and later an Indian diplomat to Denmark. In a long service spanning four decades, G ...

(), Iqbal Khan and Abdul Hamid Khan– all became generals in

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and Pakistan Army. He provided his gunnery services to ''HMS Duke of York'' at the time of the

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

and decided to opted for

in 1947. He did not actively participated in first war with

in 1947, instead he commanded a destroyer from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

to oversee the evacuation of Indian emigrants to Pakistan. He was among the first twenty naval officers who joined the

Royal Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Qur'an, 3:173'') , type ...

(RPN) as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

with a

service number A service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they may be used in civilian organizations as well. National identification numbers may ...

PN. 0006. He was the third most senior Lieutenant in the navy in terms of seniority list provided by the

to the

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

(MoD) in 1947. In 1949, he was promoted as

Lieutenant-Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

and served as commanding officer of PNS Tariq, the first destroyer, when it was commissioned from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

on 30 September 1949. In 1950, he was promoted as Commander and commanded the ''Tippu Sultan'' and sailed on a goodwill mission to

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

; he visited Jeddah,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Izmir and

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. In 1951, he participated in Task Force 91 that was held in

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

Sri Lanka with the

. At Trincomalee, they had a rendezvous with a large force (9 ships) of the Royal Navy, the Indian Navy and the Royal Ceylon Navy. It led to 14 days of strenuous exercises in harbour and at sea. The officers and men from these ships also took part in various Inter Services Tournaments. His career progressed well in the navy and helped establish the

Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

(NI) and helped establish the

Karachi Naval Dockyard The Karachi Naval Dockyard, also refers as PN Dockyard, is a naval base located adjacent to the commercial Karachi Shipyard and the PNS Qasim. It is also the only submarine construction base for the Pakistan Navy. Footnotes {{reflist External ...

. In 1958–59, the Naval NHQ staff had been in a brief conflict with the Ministry of Defence over the rearmament issues which eventually led the resignation of Vice-Admiral HMS Choudrie. Afzal Rahman Khan was never appointed to four-star admiral rank but nonetheless was appointed as Commander in Chief of Pakistan Navy after his nomination papers were approved by then-

Iskander Mirza Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakista ...

in 1959. Prior to his appointment as commander in chief of navy, his command responsibilities included as his role as Commander Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) and Commander Logistics (COMLOG) commands headquartered in

, Sindh with being promoted to the two-star rank of

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

. After promoting as Vice-Admiral, he oversaw the induction of submarines in the navy in 1960s; for this, he is viewed as the "father of submarines force" of Pakistan Navy. He earned public notability when he acted as a leader during the

with

in 1965 despite having prior no knowledge on covert operation in

Indian Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

. He oversaw the planning of and execution of the naval operation to attack the

which earned him the prestige in the country. After the war, he was publicly honored and was decorated with

Hilal-i-Jurat The Hilal-e-Jurat ( ur, , as if it were ''Halāl-e-Jurāt''; English: Crescent of Courage , sometimes spelled as Hilal-e-Jur'at, Hilal-e-Jurat, Hilal-i-Jurrat and Hilal-i-Juraat)Various official sources that are highly reputable spell the name ...

by President Ayub Khan. He is noted for his multiple extension in the navy that made him noted as the longest serving chief of staff of navy. He was known to be closer to President Ayub Khan who appointed him as the

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

and Interior Minister in 1966 while serving as an active-duty admiral. About the uprising and riots in East-Pakistan in 1969, Vice-Admiral Rahman told the journalists that the "

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

was under the

Mob rule Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majori ...

and that

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

were not strong enough to tackle the situation." He served in ministerial post until 1969 when President Ayub Khan resigned and handed over the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

to his Army Commander-in-Chief General

who suspended the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. In protest to the

, Vice-Admiral A.R. Khan resigned from his portfolio on 25 March 1969. Khan resigned from the ministries as a protest when General Yahya Khan, instituted another martial law on 25 March 1969. After his resignation, Khan retired from national politics and moved to

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

in 1969 where he lived a very quiet and private life. He did not comment on war with India in 1971 as he diminished his role from the politics in 1970s. In 1987, the Pakistan Navy honored him after establishing a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

under his name. The PNS Akram now serves as a forward operating base for the Navy and acts as a depot for all naval personnel stationed west of Ormara. He avoided the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

and lived on a military pension; he died at an old age in Islamabad in 2005. His death went unnoticed in the media and was quietly buried in Islamabad with close family members attending his funeral. According to his grave, he died already in 1983.

References

External links

Official website of Pakistan Navy
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Afzal Rahman 1921 births 2005 deaths Rashtriya Indian Military College alumni Royal Indian Navy officers Indian people of World War II People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 Pakistan Navy admirals Chiefs of Naval Staff (Pakistan) Military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Interior Ministers of Pakistan Defence Ministers of Pakistan Recipients of Hilal-i-Jur'at Admirals of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965