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General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, at the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart, arrives in Sri Lanka on Wednesday (19) on a three-day goodwill visit.
General Kayani, accompanied by Mrs Begum Zahida Kayani and a few senior officers, is scheduled to call on His Excellency, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mr D.M Jayaratne, Secretary Defence Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, High Commissioner of Pakistan, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke, Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya and Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral D.W.A.S. Dissanayake during his stay in Sri Lanka.
As part of the itinerary during his stay, General Kayani is scheduled to address the undergraduates at Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) at Sapugaskanda and present special souvenirs to chief patron of the Command and Staff College (C&SC), Quetta, Pakistan and two other ex-graduates of the C&SC during a brief ceremony at the DSCSC after his address.
General Kayani’s slated one hour address to the DSCSC is expected to touch on a wide range of international and regional issues of military importance and his own experience as an Infantry officer in the famed Baloch Regiment in the Pakistan Army.
A special Guard Turn Out and a Guard of Honour, accorded by troops of the Gajaba Regiment, salutes him on General Kayani’s arrival at the Army Headquarters premises on Thursday (20) before he calls on Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya at the Commander’s Secretariat.
On the sidelines of the main programme, Mrs Begum Zahida Kayani, the spouse of the visiting Pakistan Chief of Army Staff, is to be welcomed at a reception, organized by the Seva Vanitha Army Branch (SVAB) at its head office where a special memento is to be presented to her by the SVAB membership as a token of goodwill after she receives a brief on the SVAB roles.
Pakistan’s 14th Army Chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is noted for his patience, diligence, intelligence and sheer determination. He has a “can-do” image as a man who gets things done. Gen Kayani’s clan is one of the largest and most powerful in the northern Jhelum area of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, very much famed for producing soldiers. He is an outstanding product of Military Cadet College Jhellum, a premier feeder institution for Pakistan Army, where General Ashfaq excelled both in academics and sports.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was commissioned in an Infantry Battalion on 29 August 1971 and joined the famed Baloch Regiment. He graduated from Command and Staff College (C&SC), Quetta in 1985 and followed the War Course from the famous National Defense University (NDU), Islamabad in 1993. General Kayani has also pursued many foreign courses including Infantry Officers Advance Course from Fort Benning (USA), C&GSC from Fort Leavenworth (USA) and Security Studies Course at Asia Pacific Center (USA).
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has been an Instructor and Director Staff at School of Infantry and Tactics (SI&T), Quetta. SI&T, being the premier institution for training of junior leadership of Pakistan forces focuses on development of leadership traits and basic skills for conventional and unconventional operations. He also has been a lecturer at Command and Staff College (C&SC) Quetta, the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army and the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has held a number of key appointments as Deputy Military Secretary of Late Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto during her first stint as Prime Minister in 1988, General Officer Commander (GOC) 12th Infantry Division. General Ashfaq parvez Kayani also served as the General Officer Commander (GOC) 12th Infantry Division stationed in Murree. The division is deployed all over the Line of Control and over hundreds of kilometers of mountainous terrain.
He has served as the Director General of Military Operations between December 2000 and September 2003. It was during his tenure as DGMO that the intense military standoff between Pakistan and India took place.
General Kayani was promoted as Lieutenant General in September 2003, and given the command of the prestigious 10 Corps in Rawalpindi. 10 Corps is the largest Corps of Pakistan Army that is deployed over 1000 kms of frontage, encompassing unassailable Himalayan Mountains in the north and plains of Punjab in the south.
He was afterwards appointed the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) after he was promoted in October 2007 as a full General.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani took over as the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) after General Musharraf’s retirement on November 28, 2007. General Kayani is the first officer in the history of Pakistan who held the position of DG ISI and then went on to become the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
