INTRODUCTION TO THE NORTHERN AREAS OF PAKISTAN By Brigadier Sherullah Beg, Pakistan Army (Late)

 The Author: Brigadier Sherullah Beg (Retd) was a ‘Hunzakutz’. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Punjab in 1939. Owing to outbreak of World War II, he could not join the Indian Civil Service, which he was aspiring to. He joined the British Indian Army as an Officer Cadet in 1942 through competitive selection and was granted a commission as a 2nd Lt in the Madras Infantry in May 1943. During much of his service, he served as an Instructor in five different training institutions for officers and on staff, including the Staff College, Quetta. He was one of the few Indian officers selected to teach British Officer Cadets at the Officer’s Training School, Bangalore. He held staff appointments at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Delhi, later Supreme HQ during partition and then GHQ Rawalpindi. He served in the Gilgit region as an Officer on Special Duty for some time. Apart from command of two infantry battalions of the Punjab Regiment, he served as Deputy Provost Marshal of Pakistan’s Army for nearly five years, followed by his appointment as Pakistan’s Armed Forces’ Military Attache in Cairo from 1964 to 1966, concurrently accredited to Sudan and Lebanon. In October 1966, promoted Brigadier and recalled to command an Infantry Brigade. In early 1968 selected to command Special Services Group, the elite force of Pakistan Army. Was retired on completing 28 years commissioned service in May 1971. Since then, he has settled on a 10 acre, rather stony and partially developed farm he inherited from his father in the village of Jutial at Gilgit. In addition to devoting his time on developing his farm, the retired Brigadier is intensely absorbed and interested in the development potential of the Northern Areas. He has a wide range of interests extending from poetry, history and literature to research work on the people and languages of the Northern Areas. Besides the subcontinent, has extensively travelled in the Arab and Middle Eastern countries, as well as Western European countries. Knows several languages, English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and has a smattering of German. In addition to his mother language Brushaski, can also converse in Khowar (Chitrali) and Shina (Gilgit) dialects. Installed the first ever micro-electric generator in Gilgit as first pilot project to light up his unobtrusive cottage, which he designed himself and has given it the appropriate Burushaski name: ‘Amn-e-Yal’ (the shelter or shadow of peace) at an elevation of nearly 6,000 feet overlooking the Gilgit valley.

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