In 1966 General Zia-ul Haq, then a lieutenant colonel, became commanding officer (CO) of the 22 Cavalry in Multan. He is photographed here with his adjutant, Lt Zia Mehmood (2nd War Course). A rather amusing anecdote about the two Zias was conveyed in a Native Pakistan blog post by a Lt Col (retd) Sajid Majeed Bhatti, AC (47th PMA), who was commissioned in the 22 Cavalry in 1971: One day a girlfriend of [the adjutant] Lt Zia rang up the regiment and unfortunately the phone was picked up by the CO, who said, “Assalam-o Alaikum! Col. Zia speaking.” The girl thought that it was Lt Zia Mehmood speaking with a changed voice. She started making fun of him and said, “Yes, yes, till yesterday you were Lt Zia and today you have become Col Zia. I am pretty sure that tomorrow you will say, I am General Zia.”
Lt. Col. Zia told the girl: “I have recognized you and will talk to your father in the evening.” She hurriedly hung up.
The CO asked for the adjutant but was told that he had gone to the garages. After sometime, Lt. Col. Zia went to the garages to get hold of Lt. Zia. In the meantime, Lt. Zia had come to know what had happened and he ran to the unit lines. It was after quite some time, when the CO had cooled down, that Lt Zia picked up the courage to face him.
The image was contributed by Maj Agha Farrukh S Khan (57 PMA).
