Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sami Khan, PVSM, SM was a General in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

who served as the 13th General officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Command,

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. Gen Khan had earlier served as the

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

, Khadakwasla.

Early life

Lt. Gen Sami Khan was born in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...

, and was commissioned in the 4th Battalion, The

Madras Regiment The Madras Regiment is the oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army, originating in the 1750s. The regiment took part in numerous campaigns with both the British Indian Army and the post-independence Indian Army. History The town of Madras wa ...

. He was a member of the Royal family of Rampur, and attended

Sherwood College Sherwood College is a co-educational residential school in Nainital, Uttrakhand , India. It was established in 1869 and is affiliated to CISCE and IGCSE. History Sherwood was founded on 5 June 1869. It was the brain-child of Dr. Condon, H.S. ...

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

, and The Scindia School,

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

before attending the

Military career

2 Lt Sami Khan joined the Indian Army on 10 January 1951 and was commissioned into the 4th Battalion the

. In a career spanning 38 years, Lt Gen Khan served with the United Nations in Congo, and was awarded the

Sena Medal The Sena Medal is awarded to members of the Indian army, of all ranks, "for such individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage as have special significance for the Army." Awards may be made posthumously and a bar is authorized for s ...

. He then attended the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , pres ...

, Wellington, and later became the Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General of the 69 Brigade in Chaubatiya (now in Uttaranchal). In 1965, Gen Khan joined the 4th Madras Regiment in the Operational Theatre – Maharajke (near Sialkot). After this, Gen Sami Khan joined the battalion as a second in command to Dharchula, and took over the battalion in 1967. Thereafter, the General took the battalion to

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populatio ...

and left for an instructor’s job at the Central Command,

as the GSO 1 (Ops) Air. After spending two-and-a-half to three years as such, he was posted as a full colonel and instructor to the Infantry School Mhow (near Indore in Madhya Pradesh). Having been elevated to

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...

, he was given the task of an instructor at the Higher Command Wing at the Army War College, Mhow from where he picked up his rank as a

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

and commanded a division in Arunachal Pradesh. Prior to taking over as the 13th Army Commander of the Central Command in 1987, Gen Khan had a stint in the NDA as

, and also commanded a corps in Jammu and Kashmir. He was awarded with a

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

(PVSM) by the Indian government for his services to the nation. He was also recently posthumously awarded the Madhav Award 2016 by his alma mater, The Scindia School, Gwalior where he had spent 4 formative years from 1944 to 1948.

References

* Indian Army Param Vishisht Seva Medal Winners - Infantr

External links

* National Defence Academy of India - Gallery of the Commandant

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Sami (general) Indian Muslims Indian generals Military personnel from Hyderabad, India Military leaders of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Commandants of the National Defence Academy Year of birth missing Year of death missing Indian people of Pashtun descent Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Sena Medal Academic staff of Army War College, Mhow