Sacked major accuses Pak military of bias

A Pakistan Army officer, who was forced to retire recently, has accused the military leadership of launching a campaign against beard.

Major Zaheerud Din ( retd.) said the present military leadership was following in the footsteps of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf who had discouraged sporting beards during his nineyear tenure as the Army Chief.

Military circles however, say the forced retirement of Major Zaheerud Din was an isolated action which was taken on disciplinary grounds and was not at all part of any drive against beards.

Major Zaheerud Din is not the first officer of the Pakistani armed forces who has been forcibly retired from the military service for his refusal to trim his long beard. In March 2005, then Army Chief Pervez Musharraf had dismissed five officers of the PAF following their refusal to shave off their beards despite repeated warnings by their seniors.

The move was a part of the General’s efforts to rein in the fundamentalist elements who had tried to kill him in Rawalpindi twice. The PAF officers who were forcibly retired in August 2005 were all pilots of the fighter planes including Squadron Leader Mohsin Hayat Ranjha, Squadron Leader Naveed Riaz, Flight Lieutenant Mohammed Saqib, Flight Lieutenant Mohammed Ajmal and Flight Lieutenant Fazl- e-Rabbi. They had refused to trim their beards, saying they were doing so in line with the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.