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The Seventh Adjutant
(1970-1972)
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Cdre.(R) Ashraf
Malik - 2010 |
By Kazi Zulkader
Siddiqui, Kit no. 671, Latif
House
Lt.PN
M. Ashraf Malik was the seventh adjutant of Cadet
College Petaro from 1970-1972. He was the first naval
officer to hold this position at Petaro.
He was born on 19
September, 1943, and got married to Mrs. Samina Ashraf on 21
September 1969. They have four children - Shazia, Bilal,
Naveen and Waqas.
After leaving Petaro,
Ashraf Malik rose up through the ranks to eventually become
a Commodore in Pakistan Navy.
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Ashraf
Malik joined Military College Jhelum in Class 5, and
completed his FSc from that same institution in 1962.
Although he was keen to join Pakistan Army, he was
unable to do so due to his height. Therefore he got
selected into Pakistan Navy where the height was not a
bar.
He joined
the Pakistan Naval Academy in 1962 and was commissioned as an
officer in 1966 as a sub-Lieutenant.
During his
career, he commanded all kinds of ships in Pakistan Navy as he
progessed through his ranks - such as gun-boats, mine
sweepers, submarine chasers, destroyer and cuiser. Ashore he
was the Training Commander at PNS Himalaya which was the
largest training unit of the time.
He was
posted to NHQ as well as Director Recruitment and Director
Training.
In
1980-1983, he also had an opportunity to be posted to the
Kuwait Navy on deputation to train their officers. And during
1996-1996, he was posted out to the JS HQ as Director Plans.
He went on
LPR in 1997 and finally retired from the Navy in 1998 as a
commodore.
Soon after
retirement, he took up a job as GM Administration at Bahria
Foundation in 1998-1999. Then he got a job to head the
Divisional Public School in Faisalabad from 1999-2002, when he
returned to Bahria Foundation between 2002-2004 to work as
Director Information and Training.
In 2004, he
moved to Islamabad to settle down, and got a job with The
Citizens' Foundation (TCF) as the Regional Manager. He worked
in this position until 2008 when he finally decided to retire
from professional life.
Ashraf Malik
has the distinction of being the first ever Naval Officer to
be appointed the Adjutant of Cadet College Petaro. Prior to
him the six officers were all from Pakistan Army.
However, the
times were tough with the political turmoil in the country
with the separation of East Pakistan and the 1971 War. This
also had an impact on the college, which led to a revolt by
cadets when the government removed
Cdr. Firoz Shah from the post
of Principal in March 1972.
The early
1970s also witnessed an initial slowdown in intercollegiate
sports activities with the demise of the Inter Cadet College
Sports Tournament (ICCST). Lt.PN Ashraf Malik then arranged
for sports and outdoor activities for the cadets and matches
with Pakistan Navy. In his spare time, he also used to
take English language classes at times for cadets. |