Lieutenant General Shah Rafi Alam was from 5th PMA course. In 1951, relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated and both countries moved troops to the borders; this was later known as ‘1951 Flap’. It was decided to shorten 5th PMA course by one term and pass them out with 4th PMA course. In August 1951, 4th & 5th PMA courses passed out together. 5th PMA earned the nick name of ‘Nehru Commissioned Officers’. Gentleman Cadet (later Lieutenant General) Khusdil Khan Afridi of 4th PMA course was the winner of the Sword of Honor. The course supervisor of 5th PMA later commented that if 5th PMA had passed out in normal course after completion of fourth term, Rafi would have been the top candidate for the coveted sword of honor.
Rafi was a young and restless soul fully enjoying life. Such young lads are like wild stallions. Sometimes, the lucky ones get a life partner that brings stability to their lives and Rafi was lucky to get married to Tameez Begum, an educated and confident lady from an aristocratic and military family. She brought the best out of him and acted like an anchor and Rafi’s personal and professional life shined. There was now no looking back.
Rafi was a confident man and expressed his views candidly because of which he also sometimes clashed with authority. Even as a young Lieutenant at the Armored Corps Center in Nowshehra, he got in trouble with the then Lieutenant Colonel (later Lieutenant General & C-in-C) Gul Hassan. He was banished from the mess for two weeks. This trend continued throughout his career but probably the game of polo provided a good catharsis for some of the mercurial tendencies.
In 1981, Rafi was serving as GOC of 15th Infantry Division in Sialkot at Major General rank. When Lieutenant General Ejaz Azim moved out of I Mangla Corps, Rafi was appointed officiating Corps Commander of Mangla Corps as army Chief General Muhammad Zia ul Haq deliberated about his promotion. There was a fairly strong lobby consisting of some close advisors to Zia who favored Rafi’s promotion. It was expected that he would be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and given permanent command of the Corps. Rafi ruffled Zia’s feathers by candidly expressing his views in Corps Commanders conference.
The final straw came when during his division’s exercise, he marched all his officers and men on foot to Tilla firing ranges, a distance of some eighty miles. According to Major General ® Rizwan Qureshi then serving with the division, Rafi marched with his division during the day and every evening he drove to Kharian and played polo. On day four of the march he was limping but still marching on. When the officer asked him about the cause of the limp, Rafi replied that the day before he had fallen off a horse and hurt his knee. However, he wanted to march with his troops otherwise ‘you fellows are going to say that our GOC ‘ham ko paidal chala ke khud gari mien baith gaya’ (ordered us to march on foot while himself moving in his car). On the last lap, he joined the leading battalion on the last mile and ran with the troops till the finishing point. He boarded his jeep, drove back and did the same with some other units of his division. In an earlier exercise, he had marched back with his troops on foot from Chawinda. In Sialkot, he took the salute at the centre of the city from his troops marching back to their barracks that caused quite a sensation in the city. It was these qualities of head and heart that endeared him to his troops.
Many senior officers who had earlier given favorable opinion about his promotion now had second thoughts after the division’s exercise at Tilla ranges. The incident was interpreted by some senior officers as a naked display of bravado by a ‘maverick’ division commander and they changed their mind. Rafi’s candid and at times critical views at Corps Commanders meetings and his division exercise went against him and Zia decided not to promote him. Shah Rafi Alam’s course mate and buddy was Shams ur Rahman Kallue. Both had same initials i.e. S R Alam and S R Kallue and both joined 5th Probyn’s Horse, however Alam (PA- 3873) was senior to Kallue (PA- 3903). Zia promoted S R Kallue to Lieutenant General rank and appointed him Mangla Corps commander. Rafi was superseded and retired. Rafi had officiated as Corps Commander on Lieutenant General’s pay scale for more than six months and as per Army rules he had earned the right to the honorary rank of Lieutenant General, which was granted to him.
Acknowledgement: Author thanks many, especially Colonel ® A.J. Iqbal and Major General ® Rizwan Qureshi for valuable information and corrections.
Sincerely,
Dr. Hamid Hussain
