Muhammad Anwar Khan

Muhammad Anwar Khan
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Army
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Unit	Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers
Commands held	Pakistan Army
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

Lieutenant-General Raja Muhammad Anwar Khan was the Pakistan army engineer officer and the first engineer in Chief of the Pakistan Army. He was the first Muslim to be an officer in the Indian Corps of Engineers.

Ethnicity

Khan belonged to the Mair-Minhas Rajput clan from Chakwal. The Mair Minhas tribe has a long martial tradition which has continued into modern times. Muslim Minhas Rajputs, being recognised in history as the warrior aristocracy, prior to this they were designated by the British Empire as a Martial Race and recruited into the Imperial Army.

Military Background

His father Sirdar (or Sardar) Bahadur, Raja Fazal Dad Khan was a hereditary Landlord (or Zamindar) and was commissioned with a British Army cavalry unit. Joined as an army engineer officer at the British Indian Army Engineers Corps; Khan was inherited Pakistan Army after the creation of Pakistan. He was one of the early engineer officers at the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers where he also completed his B.Sc. in structural engineering at the Pakistan Military Academy.

Anwar Khan brothers (in total he had 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 Khan was the first Indian Commander of Cavalry and his brother Major General Muhammed Iftikhar Khan was an officer inherited by the Pakistan Army 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. Two younger brother's Brigadier M.Afzal Khan and Brigadier M.Yusaf Khan were among the senior commanders of army like the elder ones .All served with a distinguished service including World war II.

References

• Pakistan's Drift into Extremism, Hassan Abbas, 2005
• Pakistani Generals, A. K Anwar, 1992
• Akbar Khan, a biography, Khalid Akbar, 2006. Khalid Akbar is his son.

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Name	Khan, Akbar
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