RAWALPINDI: Former Rawalpindi Corps commander and former Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) chairman Lieutenant General (r) Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani passed away on Saturday at the age of 64. Kiyani will be laid to rest in the Army Graveyard Rawalpindi today (Sunday) after Zohar prayers. He is survived by his widow and three daughters. The former general was under treatment at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for a month. Lt Gen (r) Kiyani joined the Pakistan Army in 1965 and retired on October 14, 2004. Remembered as an upright and honest officer during his military career, Lt Gen (r) Kiyani was appointed Rawalpindi Corps commander shortly after the October 12, 1999 military coup of General (r) Pervez Musharraf. In 2001, he was made the General Headquarters (GHQ) adjutant general. Soon after his retirement, he was appointed as the FPSC chairman. Kiyani also served as the FPSC chairman for three years. Since he never compromised on principles, Lt Gen (r) Kiyani developed some differences with Musharraf during his FPSC tenure. As a result, the former president promulgated an ordinance to get rid of the honest general, cutting the tenure of FPSC chairman from five years to three years. During his stint as the FPSC chairman, Kiyani published two annual reports, criticising the Shaukat Aziz government for bypassing the FPSC rules and regulations to appoint their own men on key posts. The former general joined the Pakistan Ex-servicemen Association and became a staunch critic of former president Pervez Musharraf. He criticized the Kargil War and the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007. Kiyani also raised his voice for the reinstatement of sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary. An emergency meeting of the Pakistan Ex-servicemen Association was held on Saturday to condole the death of Kiyani. The association expressed grief over the untimely death of one of their colleagues. Lt Gen (r) Hameed Gul, Gen (r) Naeem Akbar, Gen (r) Saleem Haider, Gen (r) Salahuddin, Gen (r) Zuberi, Brig (r) Mahmud, Brig (r) Taj, Brig (r) Abdus Salam, Brig (r) Khadim, Brig (r) Mumtaz and Brig (r) Rauf among others expressed condolence over the death of Kiyani.
They said that Kiyani was a soldier of exceptional caliber and that he performed meritorious services for the Army during his long career.
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