F. S. Lodhi

Lieutenant-General  Farooq Shaukat Lodhi (&lrm;; 17 June 1931 – 14 September 2004), best known as F.S. Lodhi, was a Pakistani public official and military officer who served as the Governor of Punjab and Balochistan in 1984, and later serving as the Interior Minister in Zia administration in 1985..

Born and raised in Iraq, Lodhi served in the Pakistan Army where he saw actions against India in 1965 and 1971, and served in command and administrative position in the Pakistani military. After retiring from military, Lodhi was known to be a prolific writer on military issues, particularly he wrote on topics relating to Pakistan Army.

Early life and education
He was born on 17 June 1931 in Baghdad, Mandatory Iraq as Farooq Shaukat Khan Lodhi to his father Sardar Mohammad Abdullah Khan Lodhi, a British/Imperial civil servant who was posted in Mandatory Iraq in the British Indian Army at the department of Finance. Farooq's mother was Jamila Khanum, a woman known to be of great beauty and high status in Baghdad. The family later returned to Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir and Farooq's father became the accountant general of the Jammu and Kashmir state.

Farooq did his schooling at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Baramulla and obtained his FSC from the S. P. College in Srinagar.

Army career
He was first posted to the East Bengal Regiment in East Pakistan where he later commanded an uncertain regiment. Prior to his promotion to the rank of colonel, he was sent to Staff College, Camberley by the Pakistan Army for further training. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he commanded a brigade in Lahore upon his promotion to the rank of brigadier. After conflict ended between the two countries, he was appointed as an instructor with the second assignment as a chief instructor at the Command and Staff College. He again went to the UK for professional military training.

Upon being promoted to the rank of Major General, he commanded a division in Kharian, Punjab. He later served as a divisional commander during the government of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. As a Major General, he was posted as Chief of General Staff from 1978 to March 1980. He was also assigned to command IV Corps with his last promotion of lieutenant general, during which he also served as governor of Punjab.

Surviving a plane crash
After serving as a governor of Punjab, he was sent from Rawalpindi to Quetta with his second appointment as Governor of Balochistan in 1984. However, his Cessna aircraft crushed in a remote area and pilot and ADC died in the aviation accident and Lodi received minor injuries.

He was admitted to a local hospital where the doctors gave him a unnecessary blood transfusion that infected him with malaria and later hepatitis C. The infectious disease damaged his liver and he was subsequently airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi where he recovered from disease, and he resumed his duties in Quetta.

Later life
After retiring from the services, he moved to Karachi on the request of his wife where he spent his last days and started teaching in a law college in Karachi, and used to wrote articles for newspapers, including Dawn newspaper and Outlook magazine.

As a defence writer, he was among the others who outlined the use of the basic principles of the nuclear doctrine of Pakistan.

Articles

 * Lt. Gen. Sardar F. S. Lodhi (Retd., Pakistan Army), Pakistan’s Nuclear Doctrine, Pakistan Defence Journal, 1999.