Shaukat Sultan

Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan, HI(M), afwc, psc, was the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations of the Pakistani Armed Forces from 2003 to 2007. He took over the post from Major General Rashid Qureshi in June 2003. He was the public face of the Pakistan Army and spokesperson of Pakistan's military efforts against armed resistance in the Balochistan region, military operations in Waziristan and the war against Al-Qaeda near Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He was replaced by Major General Waheed Arshad as the DG ISPR on March 1, 2007, and was posted as General Officer Commanding, 10th Infantry Division Lahore.

Later, he was superseded and sent as DG Foreign Military Cooperation (FMC) at the Joint Staff Headquarters in Chaklala.

Personal background
Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan was commissioned in Pakistan Army in the Sindh Regiment in August 1972 in the 3rd Special War Course. He is a graduate of United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, GA, Command and Staff College, Quetta, and National Defence College, Islamabad. He holds a Masters degree in War Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Military career
His command assignments include command of his parent battalion, a Brigade on the Line of Control, and a Brigade in the Strike Corps. His Staff assignments include Brigade Major and Director Military Operations.

He has been on the faculty of Pakistan Military Academy, School of Infantry and Tactics, Command and Staff College and National Defence College, Islamabad. He has also served as UN Military Observer in the UN Mission in Bosnia in 1995-96.

He was promoted Major General in June 2003 and was appointed as Director General Inter Services Public Relations. He was given the additional responsibility of Press Secretary to the President of Pakistan in June 2004. Major General Shaukat Sultan was then appointed General Officer Commanding of 10th Infantry Division at Lahore in March 2007 after completing his tenure as Director General of ISPR.

Criticism
The Pakistani government's suggestion that Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, could be its untroubled guest came in the course of an interview to ABC News by its spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan. If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden "would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan told ABC News in the interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen."

Sultan's comments came in the context of questions in the US about the withdrawal of Pakistani military from Waziristan under a deal with pro-Taliban militants, a development that was greeted in the US media with headlines such as "Pakistan surrenders to Taliban."

Analysts attribute this blunder more to General Sultan’s lack of understanding of diplomatic norms and to the language barrier. “While it would be unjust to accuse General Shaukat Sultan of lying, the fact of the matter is that he was not clear what he is uttering” says Richard Nicole – who heads South Asia desk among the American think tank. “Let's hope he misunderstood the original question”, concludes The Indepundit. “My point being that Gen. Sultan is not announcing Pakistan's policy in the matter. He's telling people what the practical reality is based on the operations of the actual authority in the region”, noted the Hindu site.

Relations with parliamentarian Marvi Memon
During his tenure as Director-General of ISPR, he worked closely with Parliamentarian Marvi Memon, an aspirant to replace Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan politics. She therefore joined Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q), a party headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who harbour personal enmity with the Bhutto family. Parliamentarian Marvi was assured by Major General Shaukat Sultan that in a future prime ministerial candidate for Pervez Musharraf, she would definitely supported by the military establishment. In contravention to prevalent practice and rules, Parliamentarian Marvi was made Director of ISPR that forced two serving Brigadier Generals of Pakistan Army to tender resignations. Sultan was later superseded for several other reasons, despite being a blue-eyed boy of Musharraf.