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Shahbaz Khan
acquired all of his primary and secondary
education from the Municipal Board (MB) High
School in Mandi Bahauddin and completed his Matric
from the same institution in 1958. He then joined
Zamindara College in Gujrat a year later. Living
in the hostel there, he completed his Intermediate
(FSc) in 1961.
A year later, he
joined Pakistan Navy in 1962 and was commissioned
an officer in the Operations Branch in June 1966.
During 1965 while
he was still a midshipman under training at PNS
Himalaya, the Rann of Kutch operations against
India had started. All through these operations
and during the September 1965 War, he was on
patrolling duty at the beach front.
Soon after he was
commissioned, he was posted to PNS Khyber in 1966.
In 1968, he was posted to PNS Munsif
(minesweeper).
In 1969, he was
sent on deputation to the Abu Dhabi Navy. At
the end of 1970 when UAE was born, he was still in
Abu Dhabi. He returned to Pakistan in March 1971.
Upon his return
he was first posted as a Navigator on the
destroyer PNS Alamgir. Civil War was already
brewing in East Pakistan and India was preparing
for war with Pakistan. He was transferred to
PNS Babur to be sent to East Pakistan. But then
there was a change of plans. Two gunboats PNS
Rifaquat and PNS Sadaqat were to be sent. He was
posted to PNS Sadaqat. There was confusion on how
to transport them as they could not carry enough
fuel to be able to get to Colombo. Again this plan
was scrapped and he was posted to PNS Mujahid
(minesweeper).
While he was
getting ready to be sent to East Pakistan, he
found out of the break of war when it was
announced on television. He was rushed to sea and
his ship remained at 8-10 nautical miles off
Karachi for mine patrol.
When PNS Khyber
and PNS Munsif were drowned by the Indian
missiles, they were within sight of his ship. The
Indians had done their homework well and were
assisted by the USSR Navy. The very boats that
USSR was supposed to have given to Pakistan were
used by the Indians against Pakistan Navy.
After the war was
over, he was posted to different ships such as PNS
Tipu Sultan and PNS Shahjehan. He was also at PNS
Himalaya for a short while. When the Pakistani
prisoners-of-war returned, he was posted at Lahore
for 100 days as a part of the reception camp. He
then went to the UK for a short training course on
computers.
During 1975-1976,
he was posted as the adjutant at Petaro. He joined
just before
Prof.
S.S. Azim retired as Principal and then served
under
CaptPN Shukruddin.
He recalls that
those nearly 2 years at Petaro were among the best
years of his navy tenure. He got tremendous
love from the people there, and he was extremely
popular amongst the cadets and the employees as he
was able to provide them guidance and would help
resolve their problems. He narrates that once the
Principal and the Admin Officer wanted to impose a
water tax on the employees and he was instrumental
in getting that waived aside. Another incident was
when some of the cadets had misbehaved with
Prof.
Ghouri and were to be sent home. He got them
to stand with him and he apologized to
Prof.
Ghouri and had the matter resolved. With his
popularity, many suggested to him to run for
elections.
After return from
Petaro, he was again posted to various ships and
at the JS Headquarters. He was also sent to China
to bring ships from there. During 1981, he was
also posted as commanding officer of PNS Zafar at
Islamabad. PNS Zafar is named after the shaheed
commanding officer of the submarine PNS Ghazi.
Finally in 1986,
he took premature retirement from Pakistan Navy
while he was a Commander, despite requests to take
back his resignation.
He returned to
Lahore and settled down as a zamindar. He did go
back to the sea with the Merchant Navy during
1989-1990 briefly though.
In 1993-1994, he
joined Bahria Foundation and worked at the Head
Office as Deputy Director and also as Principal of
one of their schools.
Since then, he
has been into property development. He has built
plazas at Lahore and Khairagali.
At present he is
leading a retired life at Lahore.
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