science

Mohammad Shariff

Mohammad Shariff is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mohammad Shariff rather than just read about it. In short: Mohammad Shariff NI(M) HJ HI(M) LoM (Urdu: محمد شريف ; 1 July 1920 – 27 April 2020), was a Pakistani senior admiral who served as the 2nd Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and a memoirist who was at the center of all the major decisions made in Pakistan in the events involving the war with India in 1971, the enforcement of martial law in the country in 1977, and the decision in covertly intervening against…

Key takeaways

Mohammad Shariff belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mohammad Shariff to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mohammad Shariff from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mohammad Shariff NI(M) HJ HI(M) LoM (Urdu: محمد شريف ; 1 July 1920 – 27 April 2020), was a Pakistani senior admiral who served as the 2nd Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and a memoirist who was at the center of all the major decisions made in Pakistan in the events involving the war with India in 1971, the enforcement of martial law in the country in 1977, and the decision in covertly intervening against Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Gaining commission in the Royal Indian Navy, he participated in World War II on behalf of Great Britain before joining the Pakistan Navy in 1947 as one of the senior staff officers. In 1969, he was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding of the Eastern Naval Command in East Pakistan during the civil war there, followed by the foreign intervention by India in 1971. After the war, he was taken as a war prisoner along with Lieutenant-General A.A.K Niazi, the commander of Pakistan Army's Eastern Command after conceding the surrender of the Pakistan Armed Forces personnel to the Indian Army. He resumed his active military service in the Navy after his repatriation from India and was appointed the Chief of Naval Staff in 1975 after the sudden death of Vice-Admiral Hasan Ahmed. He had the distinction of being the first four-star admiral in the navy and was the first admiral to be appointed as Chairman joint chiefs committee in 1978 until 1980. As the Chairman Joint Chiefs Committee, he continued to advocate for an aggressive foreign policy and a strong nuclear deterrent against foreign intervention. After retiring from the military in 1980, Shariff was appointed as chairman of Federal Public Service Commission while he continued his role as military adviser to President Zia-ul-Haq until 1988 when he retired from public service. After living a quiet life in Islamabad, he announced the publishing of his memoirs, Admiral's Diary, providing further accounts, causes, and failure of the military crackdown in East Pakistan.

Biography

World War II and RIN career

Mohammad Shariff was born in Gujrat, Punjab, British India in 1920. As many of his contemporaries, he was educated at the Rashtriya Indian Military College and joined the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) in 1936 as a sailor in the Communications Branch. One of his close colleagues at this time was Gautum Singh, whom he would fight against in 1971. He participated in the World War II as a signalist in the Royal Indian Navy on behalf of Great Britain and took part in military action in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red sea, and Bay of Bengal. In 1945, he went to the United Kingdom to attend the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England where he graduated with a staff course degree.

War and staff appointments in Pakistan Navy In 1947, the United Kingdom announced the partition of India. After the creation of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, Lieutenant Shariff decided to opt for Pakistan and joined the newly established Pakistan Navy. He was the 20th most senior lieutenant in the navy in terms of seniority list provided by the Royal Indian Navy to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in 1947. In the 1950s, he served on various assignments in the Pakistan military and served as a senior staff officer at the Navy NHQ from 1953 to 1956 as Lieutenant-Commander. In 1960, he was promoted as Commander in the Navy and went to the United States where he attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated with a master's degree in War studies in 1962. Upon returning to Pakistan in 1962, he was appointed as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Personnel) with a promoting rank of Captain at the NHQ. In 1965, Captain Shariff continued his staff appointment role as DCNS (Personnel) at the NHQ and participated in the second war with India in 1965. He participated in planning of the naval assault against the Indian Navy and provided his analysis based on personnel preparation for the operation. In 1966, he was promoted as Commodore and posted as DCNS (Operations) by the Commander in Chief Admiral S. M. Ahsan where he continued his role until 1969. In 1968, Commodore Shariff paid a goodwill visit to China alongside and held defence talks with the senior leadership of People's Liberation Army.

Pakistan Eastern Naval Command

In 1969, Commodore Shariff was promoted as Rear-Admiral, a two-star rank, and posted in East Pakistan as Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) at the Eastern Naval Command HQ. His naval command was coordinated with the army's Eastern Command. During the same time, President General Yahya Khan appointed Admiral S. M. Ahsan as the Governor of East Pakistan and Lt. Gen. Yaqub Khan as the commander of the army's Eastern Command, and the activities, momentum, and magnitude of the Pakistan Navy in East Pakistan increased at a maximum level, and more military and naval exercises began to take place in East Pakistan that initially focused on gathering intelligence on Indian infiltration in East. East Pakistan, under the martial law administration of Admiral Ahsan, saw the period of stability and the civil control and law and order situation was effectively under control. In 2010, Admiral Shariff authored his memories and concluded:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mohammad Shariff

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mohammad Shariff claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mohammad Shariff before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mohammad Shariff ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mohammad Shariff

In research: Mohammad Shariff appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mohammad Shariff in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mohammad Shariff is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2020 deaths, Admirals of the India–Pakistan war of 1971, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mohammad Shariff outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mohammad Shariff” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mohammad Shariff in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mohammad Shariff means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mohammad Shariff out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mohammad Shariff in simple terms?

Why does Mohammad Shariff matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mohammad Shariff?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mohammad Shariff.