Abdul Ali Malik

Abdul Ali Malik
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service/branch	Pakistan Army
Years of service	1947-1974
Rank	Lieutenant General (PA – 524)
Unit	Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers
Commands held	Pakistan Army 24 armoured brigade Pakistan Army 8th Infantry Division I Corps
Battles/wars	Battle of Chawinda Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Lieutenant General Abdul Ali Malik was a Pakistan Army engineer officer and a high-ranking military general. He is a well-known figure from the Chawinda tank battle during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war and a was a member of the Ahamdiyya community.

He belonged to a small village called Pindori which is about 65 Kilometers away from Rawalpindi. He joined Pakistan Army as a cadet-officer and later inducted in Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. He completed his B.Sc. in electrical engineering from the Pakistan Military Academy, and served in the civil projects of the Pakistan Army. He is known to present at the constructions of the dam and had supervised the various projects in Punjab. His brother Lieutenant General Akhtar Hussain Malik was also an Army general and was himself a hero of 1965 war too. He retired from the Army after commanding the I Corps at Mangla.

During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, Brigadier Abdul Ali Malik was commander of the 24th infantry brigade in the Sialkot-Phillurah-Chamb sector. At the start of the war, his brigade was ordered by the senior 15 division to defend the imaginary Indian attack at Jasser bridge. Even though, he was reluctant to move forward (because of the Indian comprehensive orders were caught on the Indian side of border) he was forced to take his command to Jasser sector. However, it later turned out that those orders were indeed true, and he was ordered to move back into the same position. It was at this time, that Pakistan Army tanks caught the Indian armoured brigade by surprise, and hence was commenced the largest tank battle after the World War II.

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