Masood Sharif Khan Khattak or Major (R) Masood Sharif Khan (born June 5, 1950 in the city of Karak- Karak, Pakistan) is an civilian intelligence officer and the first and former Director General of the Intelligence Bureau (I.B). He has served as the Vice President of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians(PPPP) under the leadership of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto. He played a key role in a successful crackdown against the terrorists and their separatist movement in the mid 90s.
He also lead a famous intelligence operation named Midnight Jackals, which thwarted a military coupe attempt of the elected PPP government in 1990. He was imprisoned in 1996 by the government of Farooq Leghari where he was charged with launching widespread wiretapping against government officials. Released in 2000 he unsuccessfully contested as a Pakistan Peoples Party candidate the 2002 general elections from Karak. He resigned from the PPP in 2007 in protest against increasing violence in the North-West Frontier Province.
Early life
Masood Sharif Khan Khattak was born on June 5, 1950 to Captain Muhammad
Sharif Khan of the Pakistan Navy and Begum Jan both belonging to the
same village in Karak District. Masood grew up in a typical armed forces
household with strict discipline, complete with a dinner bell at the
dining table. Masood is the eldest of three siblings, one sister and two
brothers. Traveling and reading for education were the order of the day
at the Sharif household. Formal dining engagements involving the
royalty and influential people of Pakistan, Britain and India were a
regular feature at the Sharif residence in Karachi and Delhi.
Education
Masood Sharif Khan Khattak was educated in Delhi Public School. Later on after getting a Gold Medal from Sindh province, he completed his college at the prestigious Cadet College Petaro, where he was friends with the current President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.[3] He was also the youngest graduate of the Pakistan Military Academy.He completed his degree in War Studies at Command and Staff College, Quetta in 1978.
Military and civil service
He retired from the army in 1986. He served as a Federal Secretary from 1992 to 1997. During this time he was appointed as the Director-General, Federal Investigation Agency from 1992 to 1993. He was also appointed as the Director-General, Intelligence Bureau from 1993 to 1996. This is where he played a pivotal role in securing Pakistan's borders in Baluchistan and in securing peace in Karachi. He increased the size of the organization to three times its original size and revamped its organizational structure and introduced STS Anti-Terrorism training for all officers of the organization.
Masood Sharif Khan Khattak created and headed a cooperation committee, chaired by the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister. This committee consisted of the Director Generals of the Military Intelligence (MI), the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Naval Intelligence (NI), Air Force Intelligence (AFI), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
He was arrested by the Farooq Leghari government in 1996 and imprisoned on charges of corruption as well as allegations which included widespread wiretapping of opposition politicians, judges and senators.
Released in 1999, he was investigated by the NAB on corruption charges and after six years of intense investigation he was officially cleared of all the charges that were leveled against him. During that time he was very vocal in his criticism of the then ruler Gen Musharraf and he chose not to go in exile and lived visibly in Pakistan despite the NAB investigations. His name does not figure in any of the NRO beneficiaries list(s) published. No case of corruption was even so much as filed against him in any court. In 2002 he was appointed as the Senior Vice President of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian. He was defeated in the 2002 general elections by a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in his home constituency NA-15(KARAK NWFP) which has always been a conservative constituency and Masood Sharif Khan Khattak has been the only person who has ever contested in this Constituency on the PPP ticket. He came in second to the MMA candidate and the votes that he received were his own and not that of the PPP which has no vote bank at all in Karak.
World Economic Forum on East Asia
Masood Sharif spoke recently at the 2009 World Economic Form on East Asia, held in Seoul, Korea. He spoke on the topic of Asian Flashpoints:Challenges to Security.
Among other points, he said "that the divergent interests of leaders of
countries and the populace is one reason three of the countries that
have nuclear weapons – India, Pakistan and North Korea – also have
millions of hungry mouths to feed."
Publications and TV Appearances
Masood Sharif writes regularly in The News International newspaper of Pakistan. Masood Sharif Khan is also a regular on TV and radio shows across the world including the BBC, GEO TV, Voice of America and more.
Joining PTI
Masood Sharif join Pakistan Tahreek Inshaf in a meeting with Imran Kahn dated 11 Nov 2011
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