Lt General (retd) Hamid Gul, former chief of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), passed away in Murree after suffering a brain haemorrhage. According to reports 79 years old Gul, was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) after falling seriously ill, but doctors could not revive him. He served as the director general of ISI between 1987 and 1989 around the end of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.The spymaster was instrumental in starting the insurgency in Kashmir against India in 1989. He was born on 20 November 1936 in the Sargodha district of Punjab and got his early education from a school in his village.After a brief college education he reported to the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Abbottabad. From 1972 to 1976, Gul served directly under General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq as a battalion commander, and then as staff colonel in the 1st Armoured Division and Commander, II Corps at Multan. Gul was promoted to brigadier in 1978 and steadily rose to be the Martial Law Administrator of Bahawalpur and then the commander of the 1st Armoured Division, Multan in 1982.After his stint in the ISI, he retired in 1992.
