NATO uses a system of code names , called reporting names , to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states , former Warsaw Pact countries, China , and other countries. The system assists military communications by providing short, one or two-syllable names, as alternatives to the precise proper names , which may be easily confused under operational conditions or are unknown in the Western world .
69-533: The Pakistan Army Special Service Group ( reporting name: Army SSG ) is the special operations forces of the Pakistan Army . They are also known by their nickname of " Maroon Berets " due to their headgear. The SSG is responsible to deploy and execute five doctrinal missions: foreign internal defence , reconnaissance , direct action , counter-terrorism operations , and unconventional warfare . Other operational roles and responsibilities attributed to
138-479: A Bengali Christian family; they were originally Bengali Brahmins but had converted to Christianity at some point. She had grown up in Lahore , but the family had moved to Delhi at the time of partition . Her family (as also Mitha's) were strongly opposed to the marriage on grounds of culture: there were differences of religion, language, food habits and even other elements of their basic value systems. For instance, Indu
207-579: A Jordanian armoured division against the Palestinians , as part of actions in which thousands were killed. That ignominious event is known as Operation Black September . It was Gul Hasan who interceded for Zia and Yahya Khan let Zia off the hook. In the course of his military career, he was awarded the Hilal-i-Jur'at , Sitara-i-Pakistan, and Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam. After retirement he was stripped of his medals and pensions without due cause, and that
276-670: A career in business and the bride chosen for him by his grandfather, deciding instead to embark upon a career in the army. After finishing high school he joined a pre-cadet academy, and was selected for a commission in the British Indian Army . He passed out of the Indian Military Academy , Dehradun , on 21 June 1942. He was granted an emergency commission in the Indian Army and appointed to the 2nd battalion 4th Bombay Grenadiers . After volunteering for
345-641: A description of the modern special forces, see: global context of the Special forces . The Army specialist recruiter teams usually visit the different headquarters of the army's formation, distributing the pamphlets to the officers at OF-1 rank and enlisted personnel. The military physical standards, examinations, and criteria are same for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines' special forces selections and training, often training in close coordination. The Navy Special Service Group (SSGN) plays an important role in
414-667: A high dropout rate even at the very early stage of selection, according to the Pakistan Army's official report in 2013. The Pakistan Army's Medical Corps keeps the qualification and selections standards difficult and competitive in the Pakistani military to only ensure that the suitable and qualified intakes in the Special Forces in the Pakistan military as the special forces cannot be mass-produced nor it can arise in
483-570: A legend within the SSG, a fact attested to by SSG officers who came after he had moved on from the SSG. He remained head of the SSG for 6 years, from 1954 to 1960. So well-received were his training and personality development skills that in 1966, he was appointed commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy. He left his mark on hundreds of young cadets when he commanded the Pakistan Military Academy from 1966 to 1968. He then commanded
552-533: A list of officers whose retirements were announced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his first speech as president on 20 December 1971, four days after the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 . His sacking came as a surprise to Mitha as he had no hand in the Officer's Revolt at Gujranwala or the hooting down of General Abdul Hamid Khan (Chief of Staff) at a GHQ meeting. Perhaps the fact that Mitha's wife
621-802: A mess, two of them British, they would see to it that they had little, if anything, to do with their Indian counterparts". When British India divided into the Republic of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in August 1947, Mitha opted for Pakistan. He qualified for the Staff College , Quetta and served as General Staff Officer - 1 (GSO 1) in GHQ Pakistan . He describes the GHQ in Rawalpindi of
690-505: A nominal distance between two cities is approximated between 62.9 kilometres (39.1 mi)– engage through this journey by the foot while wearing their full military gear (30 kilograms). The interested individual must undergoes a 24-week of military training and training process once reported to Cherat . The training courses in the Special Service Group emphasis strong physical conditioning and mental fitness, including
759-576: Is 85 to 90 Percent because of extremely tough training process. Every year, thousands of Applicants apply to join the SSG but at the end, maximum of 100 to 120 cadets get their recommendation letter for Special Service Group. The army personnel interested in the underwater demolition must be trained with their Navy counterparts in Manora Island in the Karachi coast including being qualified to get their long-range swimming qualification badge from
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#1732791621079828-560: Is devised. The Soviet Union did not always assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, but unofficial nicknames were common as in any air force . Generally, Soviet pilots did not use the NATO names, preferring a native Russian nickname. An exception was that Soviet airmen appreciated the MiG-29 's codename "Fulcrum", as an indication of its pivotal role in Soviet air defence. To reduce
897-456: Is not made for helicopters. Before the 1980s, reporting names for submarines were taken from the NATO spelling alphabet . Modifications of existing designs were given descriptive terms, such as " Whiskey Long Bin ". From the 1980s, new designs were given names derived from Russian words, such as " Akula ", or "shark". These names did not correspond to the Soviet names. Coincidentally, "Akula", which
966-572: Is specialized in their criterion of war and are considered specialists in their fields. The headquarter of the Army Special Service Group was based in Cherat where the special forces schools are located but this changed with the brigade combat teams (BCTs) being deployed in different parts of the country. The operational responsibility of the special operations conducted by the Army Special Service Group, nonetheless, falls under
1035-635: The Battle for Hill 3234 and the Operation Magistral . When the Battle for Hill 3234 concluded, the Soviet paratroopers found that the Afghan mujaheddin actually wore the black uniforms with rectangular black-yellow-red stripes, and suspected to be Army Special Service Group personnel; Pakistan's government has officially denied their involvement. The American author, Aukai Collins , identified
1104-604: The British SAS advisers after U.S. had suspended the IMET program with Pakistan in 1981. The Army SSG initially had six battalions and each battalion had specialization units, specialized in the different war spectrum: desert , mountain , long-distance ranger , and deep diving warfare . In August 1965, the operational scope of the Army SSG was expanded from a battalion-size to larger special operation outfit. In 1968–70,
1173-721: The British Army in Quetta , Balochistan in Pakistan– the school was later moved to Attock under Colonel Kahoon, also an officer in the British Army. Citing unknown and unspecified reasons, the Close Quarter Battle School under Col. Kahoon was permanently closed and its passed out personnel who had earlier formed the 312th Garrison Company (312 Gar Coy (FF)), a light infantry , initially attached
1242-552: The East-Pakistan , near the border of Eastern India. The performance of the Army Special Service Group was reported to be much better than their performance in 1965, with 1st Command Battalion (Yaldram) and 2nd Commando Battalion (Rahber) engaged in several of their successful sabotage missions against the Indian Army's artillery and infantry regiments, while the 3rd Command Battalion in East oriented towards successfully engaging in
1311-681: The Halwara . 180 SSG commandos boarded a Pakistan Air Force 's C-130 Hercules , the three airborne formations were flown detected on the night of 7 September 1965, first performing combat jumping at Pathankot at 02:30 hours but the wind velocity led to the scattering of the teams, due to the difficult terrain and poor visibility, none of the teams were able to re-group after the drop. Of the 180 commandos dropped, 138, including all officers but one, were captured and safely taken to prisoner of war (POW) camps. Twenty-two were lynched by villagers armed with sticks, police and even bands of muleteers released by
1380-658: The Indian Army 's successful expedition took control of the Siachen Glacier from Pakistan , the ISI's Covert Action Division (CAD) inserted in the region, confirming the intrusion and movement of Indian Army soldiers in 1983. The Army Special Service Group was immediately deployed to engage in the armed battle with the Indian Army at 20,000 feet (6,100 m) above sea level . Led by Captain Muhammad Iqbal,
1449-689: The Indian Parachute Regiment , he served in Burma during World War II and was dropped behind Japanese lines for high-risk operations. He was promoted war substantive Lieutenant 21 December 1942. He was granted a regular Indian Army commission on 25 May 1946 with an initial commission date of 1 June 1944 and to rank of Lieutenant from 1 December 1945. Mitha refers to the blatant racism that British officers practised against their Indian colleagues in his posthumously published book, Unlikely Beginnings . He wrote, "If there were ten officers in
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#17327916210791518-452: The NATO reporting names in some cases. NATO refers to surface-to-air missile systems mounted on ships or submarines with the same names as the corresponding land-based systems, but the US DOD assigns a different series of numbers with a different suffix (i.e., SA-N- versus SA-) for these systems. The names are kept the same as a convenience. Where there is no corresponding system, a new name
1587-638: The Parachute Training School in Peshawar to volunteer for the airborne training, and must get the airborne qualification badge from the airborne training school. The airborne training course held for four weeks where the interested personnel must excelled the HALO/HAHO methods with five-day jumps and three-night military free fall. After gaining their airborne qualification badge, the army personnel then reports to Cherat from Peshawar–
1656-603: The military unit to the Frontier Force Regiment (FF Regiment) in 1952— the 312 Gar Coy (FF) still remains a part of the Frontier Force Regiment . In 1953–54, the United States Army raised a special forces unit within the Pakistan Army to provide intelligence and combat defense against Soviet Union 's expanding sphere of influence in Central Asia . The U.S. assistance helped raise
1725-698: The 1 Armoured Division from 1968 to 1970. Then he was moved to East Pakistan. In 1951, Mitha had married a Bengali Christian girl of Brahmin heritage, and this gave him a connect with East Pakistan. In 1965 he commanded an Infantry Brigade in East Pakistan and was also active there in early 1971 as Deputy Corps Commander. He was particularly active in East Pakistan in the days preceding the military action of 25 March 1971. Other generals were present in Dhaka along with Yahya Khan . They secretly departed on
1794-803: The Army Special Forces have been engaged in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and remote areas in areas adjacent to Afghanistan—their notable antiterror operation included the successful clearance of the Red Mosque in Islamabad from al-Qaeda sympathizers. The Army Special Forces teams also taken parts in raiding and attacking the terrorists elements in near border with Afghanistan , working often with U.S. Army's Special Forces in Afghanistan. In 2014,
1863-465: The Army Special Service Group given in YouTube is given below: 3 Commando Battalion Powindahs Zarrar Company 8 Commando Battalion (Al-Azb) 5 Commando Battalion (Zilzaal) 6 Commando Battalion (Al-Samsaam) 7 Commando Battalion (Babrum) 1 Commando Battalion (Yaldram) 2 Commando Battalion (Rahber) 4 Commando Battalion (Yalghar) Notes: Source of officially recognized and known structure of
1932-463: The Army Special Service Group given in YouTube . The early organizational structure of the Army's Special Service Group was initially based on the regimental system , with three battalions specialized in the military diving , airborne , mountain warfare techniques. After the third war with India in 1971, the Army Special Service Group was expanded with the eight battalions that specialized in their own set of war course of actions –each battalions
2001-544: The Army Special Service Group remained active in successfully tackling the armed insurgency in Balochistan in Pakistan . In 1979–89, the Army Special Service Group had been seconded in covert actions in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union 's armed intervention . There have been unconfirmed reports of the Army Special Service Group engaging in armed battles with the Soviet paratroopers in incidents including
2070-610: The Army Special Service Group reportedly successful in their manhunt operation after targeting and killing of Adnan Gulshair , a Saudi citizen known as the Global Operations Chief of al-Qaeda . In January 2013, India accused Pakistan that the Army Special Service Group led an attack across the Line of Control in which Indian soldiers were killed and beheaded. Due to their selection competitiveness, demanding military physicals , and commitment required per standard of
2139-644: The Army Special Service Group was then based out in Cherat , Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Initially, the SSG were popular as the Green Berets with Baloch insignia in the 1950s, but SSG dropped their green berets in favor of adopting the Baloch Regiment's maroon berets– hence giving them the nickname the Maroon Berets . In 1964, the Parachute Training School (PTS) was established under
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2208-477: The Army's Special Forces, the Special Service Group was restricted to the Brigade level until June 2003. On 14 June 2003, the major reorganization in the structure of the Army Special Service Group took place when the special forces were moved as a military division with Major-General A. F. Alvi becoming the first general officer commanding (GOC). In an official documentary recognized and known structure of
2277-618: The Halwara group commander who, along with his friend, hijacked a jeep and somehow managed to return safe. The Pakistani accounts, the latest of which comes now from several participants in the wake of the 1965 at 50 commemorations, acknowledged the SSG-commando disaster but blamed it on poor briefing, planning and callous arrogance of the commanders. Some of these former Pakistani soldiers even write about having met some of these paratroopers and exchanged notes with them on how badly planned
2346-465: The Indian Army, from the animal transport battalion of the nearby Corps headquarters. Only 20 commandos were unaccounted for and most escaped back to Pakistan under the fog. Most of these were from the Pathankot group, dropped less than 10 km from the border in an area that had plenty of ravines, riverine tracks to navigate back along. One notable, commando-style escape was of Major Hazur Hasnain,
2415-841: The Naval authorities. The Special Service Group criteria meet special forces training and selection criteria of the United States Army Reporting name The assignment of reporting names is managed by the Five Eyes Air Force Interoperability Council (AFIC), previously known as the Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC), which is separate from NATO . Based in Washington DC, AFIC comprises representatives from
2484-594: The Pakistan Army integrated the Chinese introduced physical training , tactics, weapons, and equipments. The first war time deployment of the Army Special Service Group took place in 1960 with their first special reconnaissance mission in the former tribal belt near the porous Durand Line – the Afghanistan - Pakistan 's line of international border. In 1960–61, the Army Special Forces team under Major Mirza Aslam Beg had successfully inserted in Dir and took control of
2553-575: The SSG include: search and rescue , counter-proliferation , search and destroy , hostage rescue , information operations , peacekeeping missions , psychological operations , security assistance, and HVT manhunts . Chain of command and control of the SSG falls within the domain of the Pakistan Army's Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) , and its personnel are directly recruited into the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) 's counter-terrorism division upon their retirements. Much of
2622-418: The SSG's activities and operations are shrouded in secrecy and public knowledge of their work is heavily controlled through selective declassified documents and published literary works by retired military veterans or authorized media . In 1950, the Pakistan Army established the school, Close Quarter Battle School, dedicated for teaching the methods of close quarters combat under Colonel Grant Taylor of
2691-644: The chemical explosives, survival skill training. There are schools of special warfare that the trainee soldier chooses: Snow and High Altitude School, Mountain Warfare School, Airborne Warfare School, Desert Warfare School, Sniper School, and Frogman School. These schools offers the advanced training courses which runs for additional 25–30 weeks (depending on student's choosing of his career), and only successfully passed out personnel are awarded with badges of their specialized fields by their specialized school faculty. The dropout rates of Special Service Group(Army)
2760-719: The command of the Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) operating from the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi, along with the Army Rangers and Strategic Plans Division Force –the CBRN defense team. The Special Service Group is organized into eight battalions and three companies – all trained and specialists in the specific type of war operations. However, the Army has never issued an actual strength number for
2829-465: The early days of Pakistan in graphic detail, with junior officers using wooden packing cases for desks and chairs and bringing their own pencils to work. Toilet paper, called "bog paper" by the British, was used to write on, as ordinary paper was just not available. Lt Col (later Maj Gen) Aboobaker Osman Mitha held several important positions as an army officer. He was extremely hands on and leading from
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2898-680: The elements as "Black Storks" who crossed the border to join the Afghan mujahideen – a claim also backed by American author, David Campbell. Another battle was taken place between the Soviet paratroopers and the Afghan mujahideen in Kunar in 1986 that suspected the Army Special Service Group's involvement but the Russians dismissed the claim and noted that the battle was fought between the GRU 's 15th Spetsnaz Brigade and Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf 's group. When
2967-438: The evening of 25 March 1971, that fateful day after fixing the deadline for the military action. Mitha is said to have remained behind. Lt Gen Tikka Khan , Maj Gen Rao Farman Ali and Maj Gen Khadim Hussain Raja were associated with the planning of the military action. Eventually their action bloodied the capital city Dhaka with the blood of thousands of residents including students, military and police personnel, politician and
3036-468: The everyday based surprised strategic thinking quiz and a 36-mile march in 12 hours. Violation of the military code and ethics by the trainee soldier resulted in including the 9.3 kilometres (5.8 mi) march from Cherat to Chapri with full 36 pounds (16 kg) military gear. The curriculum of the basic military training course included the mastery in Judo and Karateka , special weapons training, military navigation, and handling and disarming of
3105-415: The extenuating situations. Prior to joining the Special Service Group, the interested junior army officers (usually at OF-1 and OF-2 ) and enlisted personnel must have spent their committed military careers for at least five years and must be volunteered to join the Special Service Group. Once selected through successfully undergoing through the medical evaluation, the interested personnel must report to
3174-444: The famous Indian hero and heart-throb, Dev Anand . Despite all these very obvious differences, Mitha persisted in a long-distance courtship, and Indu reciprocated. That Mitha's feelings were not just puppy love but something more lasting was proved by his sheer perseverance, and four years after the young lovers' separation, Indu, much against the wishes of her family, came over to Karachi and married Mitha. This happened in 1951, and
3243-470: The front type of an officer. This made him a legend not only in the Army, but also with the Navy and Air Force . In 1954, Mitha was selected to raise an elite commando unit for Pakistan Army, the Special Service Group (SSG). Cherat , a hill station near Peshawar , was chosen as the highly restricted site where the commandos were to be trained and based. Mitha's sole instruction to his handpicked Pakistani officers was, "Be proud of your poverty." He became
3312-408: The general mass. Later documents regarding their action on the early hours of 26 March 1971 known as Operation Searchlight was revealed to the world. Mitha was Quartermaster General at the GHQ when he was prematurely retired by the civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , in December 1971. He was just over 48 years old at the time. Lt General Gul Hasan added Mithas name to
3381-464: The generosity of a friend living in Britain, who asked Mitha to manage his farm for him in Pakistan, he would have been on the street. Mitha died in December 1999, twenty-eight years into his enforced retirement. Upon his death, one of his friends wrote to his wife: While he was serving in the British Indian army (pre-partition), Mitha fell in love with Indu Chatterji , daughter of Prof. Gyanesh C. Chatterji of Lahore Government College . Indu belonged to
3450-450: The law and order situation by removing the instigating Nawab of Dir in Chitral in North-West Frontier Province . In 1964–65, the teams of Special Service Group that entered Indian-administered Kashmir failed in executing Operation Gibraltar due to lack of understanding of the local culture and language and was eventually met with hostility from the locals who alerted the Indian government authorities. The second war with India saw
3519-416: The letter "B", and names like "Badger" ( Tupolev Tu-16 ), "Blackjack" ( Tupolev Tu-160 ) and "Bear" ( Tupolev Tu-95 ) have been used. "Frogfoot", the reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-25 , references the aircraft's close air support role. Transports have names starting with "C" (for "cargo"), resulting in names like "Condor" for the Antonov An-124 or "Candid" for the Ilyushin Il-76 . The initial letter of
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#17327916210793588-479: The militaries of three NATO members (Canada, the United Kingdom and United States) and two non-NATO countries (Australia and New Zealand). When the system was introduced in the 1950s, reporting names also implicitly designated potentially hostile aircraft. However, since the end of the Cold War, some NATO air forces have operated various aircraft types with reporting names (e.g. the "Fulcrum" Mikoyan MiG-29 ). The United States Department of Defense (DOD) expands on
3657-459: The name indicates the use of that equipment. The alphanumeric designations (eg AA-2) are assigned by the Department of Defense . The first letter indicates the type of aircraft, e.g., "Bear" for a bomber aircraft refers to the Tupolev Tu-95 , or "Fulcrum" for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighter aircraft. For fixed-wing aircraft, one-syllable names are used for propeller aircraft and two-syllable names for aircraft with jet engines. This distinction
3726-442: The only 12-men Army Special Service team had to hiked at the 19,000 feet (5,800 m) to reach the Indian Army's resting camp. The battle with the Indian Army ensued and Special Service Group commandos but they did not gain much due to adverse weather conditions and enormous heights Over the years, the Army Special Service Group have developed expertise in high altitude warfare, and are regularly deployed in Siachen. Since 2001,
3795-540: The operation was. Here is the account of Col SG Mehdi, himself a commando officer then. The fortified forces ’ conditioning in no way undermines its elevation, but by blocking free speech, the government has politicized the issue and brought the military leadership into the global spotlight. By 1970–71, the Pakistan Army had permanently posted one Army Special Service Group 3rd Commando Battalion in East-Pakistan under Lt-Col. Tariq Mehmood , begin working with local authorities in maintaining security situation in
3864-488: The overall architecture of the special operations forces, their qualification standards, fitness at all levels, and eligibility required for the security clearances. There are three schools that the overall basic eligibility requirements to be considered for entry into the schools of the Special Forces are: The medical standards in various physical courses into the entrance in the Special Forces in Pakistan are maintained to be very high and extremely competitive, resulting in
3933-428: The risk of confusion, unusual or made-up names are allocated, the idea being that the names chosen are unlikely to occur in normal conversation and are easier to memorise. For fixed-wing aircraft, the number of syllables indicates the type of the aircraft's engine. Single-syllable code names denote reciprocating engine or turboprop , while two-syllable code names denote jet engine . Bombers have names starting with
4002-437: The seek and destroy missions. Their final mission included the mounting of the successful defense of the Shahjalal International Airport against the Indian Army -backed Mukti Bahini , and were the last army special forces formation that had departed from the airport before the Dacca fall to India on 16 December 1971. From 1972–77, the Pakistan Army went into reorganization and major restructuring of its combat services but
4071-410: The special forces unit from the simple infantry regiment, the 19th Baloch , that provided an ideal cover from its covert nature of works. In 1955, the 17th Baloch infantry was incorporated with the 19th Baloch, followed by the special forces training began to conduct under Lt Col. Donald W. Bunte from the Special Forces of the United States Army . On 23 March 1956, the Special Service Group (SSG)
4140-585: The special forces. The official strength of each battalion is treated as classified information . The SSG battalions are each typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel (varies, and depends on availability), and the battalions are organized into groups under the command of colonels . The overall commander of the Special Service Group is a major general whose identity is also kept secret. [47] Sources: Sharma, Rajeev (1999). Pakistan's Proxy War: A Story of ISI, Bin Laden and Kargil. New Delhi, India: Kaveri Book Service. p. 223. ISBN 9788174790354 . . For
4209-454: The testing and shaping of the Army Special Service Group when the Indian Army charged and invaded the Pakistan-side of Punjab in response to the covert actions took place in Indian Administered Kashmir . The airborne missions of the Army Special Service Group included performing the combat parachuting at the Indian airbases with an intention of launching a ground assaults in the Indian Air Force 's air stations in Pathankot , Adampur , and
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#17327916210794278-437: The watchful guidance of 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army , and training on the desert warfare with U.S. Special Forces' Mobile Training Team begin, followed by the Navy SSG established by the U.S. Navy SEALs as a deep diving team, which was known for its physical training in Karachi in 1966–70. In 1970, the Musa Company was established that solely specialized in anti-terrorist operations , receiving training from
4347-447: Was a Pakistan Army general who is considered a legend in the Pakistan Army, and a "stay behind" conceptual founder of Special Services Group (SSG). With the help from the United States ' Special Forces , he created the special forces unit in Cherat , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1956. Aboobaker Osman Mitha was born on 1 June 1923 at his family residence in the extremely posh Malabar Hill neighbourhood of Bombay, British India . He
4416-422: Was a Bengali Christian woman worked to his disadvantage. According to Mitha, the same Gul Hasan who got him sacked had saved then-Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq from being sacked. Brigadier Zia was in Jordan and the year was 1971. Gen Yahya Khan received a signal from Maj Gen Nawazish, the head of the Pakistan military mission in Amman , asking that Zia be court martialled for disobeying GHQ orders by commanding
4485-412: Was assigned to an attack submarine by NATO, was the actual Soviet name for the ballistic missile submarine NATO named " Typhoon-class ". The NATO names for submarines of the People's Republic of China are taken from Chinese dynasties . Abu Bakr Osman Mitha Major General Aboobaker Osman Mitha HJ SQA TPk ( Urdu : ابو بكر عثمان مِٹها ;–1923–1999), popularized as A.O. Mitha ,
4554-423: Was born into an affluent and wealthy business family belonging to the Memon community . He grew up in a traditional Indian joint family environment, presided over by an imperious grandfather and powerful grandmother. His entire childhood and early youth was spent in tony south Bombay, he attended the elite schools and colleges there and was attended on by a retinue of servants. As a young man, Mitha rejected both
4623-402: Was established as a Battalion under the command of its first commanding officer , Lieutenant-Colonel A. O. Mitha , after founding the School of Special Operations (SSO) under the advisement of army officers from the U.S. Army 's Special Forces . The Special Service Group's institution and the physical training remained under the command of Lt-Col. Mitha until 1961–62. The headquarter of
4692-413: Was quite a surprise to the public as he was never court-martialed . But Mitha gained more popularity by this due to which he was kept under surveillance by the Bhutto Administration as he was also a hero for his juniors in the SSG. He remained under surveillance throughout the Bhutto years. After being sacked from the Pakistani army, Mitha had a hard time finding any kind of employment. Had it not been for
4761-462: Was trained in the south Indian classical dance form Bharatanatyam , and after marriage, she had to give up dancing in public, because this was frowned upon in Pakistan, especially when the dancer was the wife of an army officer. Also, Indu had filmi connections - her elder sister Uma Anand was already the wife of Indian (and Hindu) film-maker Chetan Anand , and later in 1954, her cousin Kalpana Kartik , herself an actress, would marry Chetan's brother,
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