The Mair Minhas tribe has a long martial tradition of serving in the British India and Pakistan military.

Anwar Khan was selected for the 4th batch at Indian Military Academy (IMA) Dehra Dun in February 1934, and passed out on 3 June 1936.

Maj Gen Anwar Khan spent the remainder of his retirement years in Rawalpindi, where he died on 5 February 2005.

He was a veteran of both World Wars I and II and the first Muslim officer to join the British Indian Cavalry and served in the 5th King Edward's Own (KEO) Probyn's Horse.

Major General Muhammad Iftikhar Khan, who was educated at RIMC and Sandhurst, was commissioned in August 1929 and joined 7th Light Cavalry.

Anwar Khan (PA-48) belonged to the martial family of Maayr-Minhas Rajputs from Chakwal – the town that was not only founded many centuries ago by his ancestors, but which also bears the name of his forefather.

Around 1860 the family's lands and properties in the Chakwal area were confiscated by the British, under the orders of Brigadier General John Nicholson, for rising against them.

(On his retirement Raja Fazaldad Khan became the leading horse and cattle breeder and agricultural land developer in the Lyallpur (Faisalabad)/Jaranwala and Sahiwal/Okara areas of undivided Punjab).

General Anwar's cousin Raja Muhammad Sarfraz Khan, who was the eldest son of Raja Aurangzeb Khan, helped redeem the position of the family at Chakwal, and became a prominent politician of the Muslim League and a close friend and associate of the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

Raja Muhammad Baqir Khan, died very young as a law student at Cambridge University UK, when he met with a motorcycle accident.

After early schooling at Lahore, young Anwar Khan was selected as a cadet at the age of 12 years, in the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (RIMC) in Dehra Dun (India).

Subsequently, he served in various Engineer units of the 7th Division, with postings and operational duties in Rawalpindi, Batrasi, Shinkiari and Nowshera.

In Dec 42, the 7th Division crossed on a country boat bridge built by Engineers at the site of now Tarbela Dam and camped at Nowshera.

During World War II, he spent 3 years in the Burma operations in 23rd Engineer Battalion and was "mentioned in despatches" for his service and was promoted to Lt.Col.

During this period he was involved in various military combat engineering operations, such as building roads, wooden (tank crossing) bridges, forward airfields, river jetties etc.

In Arakan-Akyab area, along the sea, they were a SEAC unit, where tank wooden crossings were often damaged by "lifting" at high tide.

After a year, 23 Engr Bn was shifted to Assam and came under 15 Corps, and made bridges roads and forward airfields, enabling the troops to advance to Rangoon.

On 16 Aug 47 he started his journey back to Roorkee (now in hostile India) by train from Rawalpindi, which was diverted from Lahore to Ludhiana via Ferozpur.

Later in Oct 47 an MT convoy headed by Capt Tufail Ahmed (later colonel) brought most of Pakistan's share from Roorkee to Sialkot.

The big task was to integrate the Bengal S&M with the Bombay S&M personnel, but the "Pakistan feeling" was so strong and overwhelming, that unity was soon achieved.

For further training he was posted on 1st Sep 49 as CMES Rawalpindi - in those days covering: Pindi, Abbottabad, Murree, Jehlum, Sargodha, Mianwali and Attock.

Later his perseverance to get the degree at Military College of Engineering (MCE) Risalpur, proved successful at a conference of all the Vice Chancellors of the then universities in Pakistan.

He accepted the challenge, and sent Maj Safdar and a captain as a reconnaissance party, and they walked through dangerous territory until they reached Chilas.

This was one of his most significant achievements, as he was personally involved in planning, designing and supervising the building of a "jeep road on a 3 tonner alignment", along the Indus River through Chilas and Gilgit, within the meagre budget of only Rs 75 lakhs.

This road was eventually widened and extended to China as the Karakoram Highway - a superb feat of engineering by any international standards.

The fact was further vindicated when retired and serving officers of the Corps of Engineers excelled in whichever assignment they were given, and in any military or civilian organisations they subsequently joined.

After retiring from the Pakistan Army, Maj General Anwar Khan was subsequently appointed Managing Director and Chairman of the Oil and Gas Corporation for four years, during which oil was struck at Tut near Taunsa, DG Khan, and gas near Karachi and in the then East Pakistan.

His strategy and mission at OGDC was to make Pakistani engineers, technologists and scientists learn and apply the skills and technologies required for attaining the highest level of competence and expertise, in all disciplines and specializations including the petroleum industry.