حلف بغداد
As a Lieutenant General, he commanded one of Pakistan Army's strike corps, I Corps, as its Corps Commander from 1958 to 1966. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Lt. Gen. Bakhtiar Rana was the only lieutenant general commanding a corps, namely 1 Corps, and he was one of only two lieutenant generals in the Pakistan Army during the war, the other being Lt. Gen. Altaf Qadir, who was on deputation to the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO).