page_title: Mirza Aslam Beg
section_title: Career in the military
hierarchical_section_title: Mirza Aslam Beg / Career in the military
caption_attribution_description: English: This map is a partial representation of Pakistani and Bengali forcese in Bangladesh in March 71. Sources of information are listed in the "Operation Searchlight" article bibliography. The source map was created by user Miljoshi on January 5, 2006 as "Map Bangladesh RoadRail.png" and released under GNU Free documentation license and Creative commons licenses 2.5,2.0 and 1.0.
context_page_description: General Mirza Aslam Beg LOM, NI, HI, SBt, TeJ, also known as M. A. Beg, is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, who served as its Chief of Army Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief of army staff came when his predecessor, President General Zia-ul-Haq, died in an air crash on 17 August 1988.
  Beg's tenure witnessed Benazir Bhutto as being elected Prime Minister in November 1988, and the restoration of democracy and the civilian control of the military in the country. Controversial accusations were leveled against him of financing the Islamic Democracy Alliance, the conservative and right-wing opposition alliance against left-wing PPP, and rigging subsequent general elections in 1990. As a result of general elections, Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister in 1990, but fell out with Beg when the latter recommended support for Iraq during the Gulf War. Beg was denied an extension from President Ghulam Ishaq Khan soon after in 1991, and replaced by General Asif Nawaz as chief of army staff.
context_section_description: The Beg family set sailed for Karachi from Mumbai via Pakistan Navy ship in 1949. His elder brother was already a commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army and encouraged young Beg to follow his path to seek a career in the army. Beg recalled his memoirs to his Indian interviewer and called Pakistan as "my dream country". In 1950, Beg was accepted at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, graduating from a class of 6th PMA Long Course in 1952.
  In 1952, he gained commissioned as 2Lt. in the 16 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan Army and initially assisting the command of an infantry platoon. From 1952–1958, he progressed well towards the military ranks, having been promoted to army lieutenant in 1956; and army captain in 1958. He received recommendations from his field commanding officer for the selection by the special branch to join the special forces, and departed to the United States in 1958 to complete the special forces training with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
  In 1960, Major Beg returned to Pakistan, and joined the elite Army Special Service Group (SSG), initially commanding a company that specialized in military infiltration. Major Beg was deployed in Western Pakistan, in areas adjacent to Afghanistan, where his first combat experience took place when he led his company in removing the Nawab of Dir in Chitral in North-West Frontier Province. In 1965, Major Beg served well in the second war with India and led the Special Forces team against the Indian Army/
caption: MI's Map of East Pakistan in 1971. Beg, then-Lt-Col., had been very critical of Eastern Command's interference in the Govt. of East Pakistan.
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