Muhammad Anwar Khan Information & Muhammad Anwar Khan Links at HealthHaven.com

Raja Muhammad Anwar Khan was the first Muslim to be an officer in the Indian Corps of Engineers and the first Engineer-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army.

Khan belonged to the Mair-Minhas Rajput clan from Chakwal. The Mair Minhas tribe has a long martial tradition which has continued into modern times. Muslim Minhas Rajputs, being recognised in history as the warrior aristocracy, prior to this they were designated by the British Empire as a Martial Race and recruited into the Imperial Army.

His father Sirdar (or Sardar) Bahadur, Raja Fazal Dad Khan was a hereditary Landlord (or Zamindar) and was commissioned with a British Army cavalry unit.

Five of Muhammad Anwar Khan brothers (in total he had seven brothers) joined the Army and became officers. His elder brother, Muhammed Akbar Khan was the first Indian Muslim to become a General in the British Indian Army. His brother, Brigadier Muhammed Zafar Khan was the first Indian Commander of Cavalry and his brother Major General Muhammed Iftikhar Khan was an officer inherited by the Pakistan Army from British India. He had been nominated to become the first local Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army after General Douglas David Gracey's retirement. However, his death in a tragic plane crash in 1949 was a disaster for the newly formed country.

[edit] References

Pakistan's Drift into Extremism, Hassan Abbas, 2005
Pakistani Generals, A. K Anwar, 1992
Akbar Khan, a biography, Khalid Akbar, 2006. Khalid Akbar is his son.