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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