Aftab Ahmad Khan Lieutenant - General Aftab Ahmad Khan was a retired Pakistan Army Infantry Officer , born in Batala , Gurdaspur District , British India on October 22 , 1923 to the illustrious family of Khan Bahadur Mian Altaf Hussain Khan ( 1874 – 1946 ) and Mehndi Begum . Biography . Early life , military education and honors . After his initial education , at the Municipal Board ( MB ) High School Batala , Lt . General Aftab Ahmad Khan graduated from the Government College , Lahore , and joined the Indian Military Academy , Dehradun . During his tenure in the Army , Lieutenant General Aftab Ahmad Khan graduated from Staff College , Quetta - 1952 ; the United States Army Command and Staff College , at Fort Leavenworth , USA , 1961 – 62 ; the Army War Course , Command and Staff College Quetta - 1967 ; and Royal College of Defence Studies ( formerly known the Imperial Defence College ) , London - 1971 . He was Mentioned in Despatches during the 1965 India - Pakistan War , where he commanded a brigade defending the city of Lahore , Pakistan . He was a recipient of 2 gallantry awards for his work as Pakistan ' s Ambassador in Philippines in 1984 – 86 : Rank of Datu in the Order of Sikatuna , Government of Philippines , 8 April 1986 , awarded by Corazon Aquino , President of the Republic of Philippines ; and Das Großes Verdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ( Commander ' s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany ) in recognition of his exceptional services to the State and People of Germany , 9 May 1986 . Both awards were awarded in recognition of the two respective governments to have facilitated the rescue of two hostages held by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front . Photographs of both Citations have been included for historical reference . Military career . He was commissioned in the Indian Army as a 2nd Lieutenant on 21 June 1942 and soon , thereafter , joined the 1st Battalion , 2nd Punjab Regiment in the British Middle East Command . As a young officer , he served in various regimental appointments for the following two years in Egypt , Palestine , Syria and Lebanon . In March 1944 , his Battalion the 1st Battalion of 2nd Punjab , as part of the 10th Indian Division sailed for Italy and fought against the Germans in World War II as part of the British 8th Army . Major Aftab Ahmad Khan , then a company commander , returned home in December 1945 . His Battalion joined the 1st Indian Parachute Division where he trained as a paratrooper and became Company Commander . In 1947 , when the Government of India created the Punjab Boundary Force during partition , in the position of Major served in it till it was disbanded . Having overseen the safe evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs from areas lying between the Sutlej and Ravi rivers to India , and was responsible to safely escort back hundreds of thousands of Muslims stranded in southern eastern Punjab province of India . In January 1948 , he was seconded from the Pakistan Army as a Major to Zhob Militia ( formally known as Fort Sandeman ) , Quetta , Baluchistan part of the Frontier Corps for 3 ½ years and also commanded Pishin Scouts . During this time , he saw action in the state of Jammu and Kashmir . In 1951 , on posting back to the Army , he was posted first as a company commander and then a Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade in Peshawar . After attending the Command and Staff College , Quetta in 1952 , he took command of the 14th Battalion , 1st Punjab Regiment ( Pakistan ) for the next 3 years . In 1956 to 1959 , he was posted as General Staff Officer - 1 ( GSO - I ) in Murree serving there for 3 ½ years . He received command of the 1st Battalion , 1st Punjab Regiment in Lahore and paraded the Regiment on its 200th raising day . The parade was commanded by Lt . Col . Aftab Ahmad Khan and led by Field Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck former Commander - in - Chief . The 1 / 1 ( or commonly known as the first / first ) is the senior most Battalion of the Pakistan Army . Field Marshall M . Ayub Khan at that time the ( President of Pakistan ) and Commander - in - Chief of the Pakistan Army took the salute at the march past . After having been posted as Colonel Staff of a Division , Colonel Aftab Ahmad Khan was promoted to command a Brigade and fought in defense of Lahore on the Wagah border , extremely successfully in the Indo - Pakistani War of 1965 . After various staff appointments in General Headquarters , Rawalpindi , including as Vice Chief of General Staff , Director General Military Training , Research and Development , he commanded a division in Chamb Sector in 1972 followed by taking command of a newly raised X Corps with the rank of Lieutenant General from where he retired after 34 years of service . X Corps ( Pakistan ) . As an ode to the Lt . General Aftab Ahmad Khan for raising the X Corps ( Pakistan ) , the Pakistan Army selected the insignia of the Corps reflecting a Rising Sun ( Urdu for Aftab ) with ten rays extruding from it . Post - military career . After retirement , Lt . Gen . Aftab Ahmad Khan was sent as Ambassador of Pakistan to Libya between 1976 to 1980 and later appointed as Ambassador of Pakistan to the Philippines 1984 – 1986 . Family . Lt . General Aftab Ahmad Khan was married to Nasreen Hayat Khan in 1960 and had a daughter Umbereen A . Khan and a son Shahbaz A . Khan . Mrs . Nasreen Aftab Khan died of a protracted illness in 2001 . He had an elder brother Professor Namdar Khan ( late - died 2002 ) , a renowned educationalist , who taught Comparative Education at University of California ' s School of Education ( Tollman Hall ) from 1972 to 1976 , a younger brother Air Marshall Iftikhar Ahmad Khan , ( HI ) M & ( SBt ) Sitara - e - Basalat and two sisters Mrs . Ismat Akhtar and Mrs . Najma Chaudhury . Death . Lt . General Aftab Ahmad Khan died of a sudden Heart Attack on July 12 , 2011 at the age of 88 , and was laid to rest with Pakistan Army ' s traditional Military Honors for retired commanders . He is survived by his daughter Umbereen Fahim Inaam and son Shahbaz Aftab Khan and three grandchildren , Syeda Sharmeen Inaam , Aly Shahbaz Khan and Kamila Shahbaz Khan .