PHOTO: ISPR
ISLAMABAD: General (retd) Khalid Shameem Wynne, the 14th chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), died along with a friend on Saturday afternoon in a road crash near the federal capital. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed the incident in a brief statement.
According to APP, the accident occurred near Chakri Interchange on the Islamabad-Lahore motorway when Wynne’s Land Cruiser toppled over after one of its tyres burst. The Motorway Police claimed that the driver had been speeding and appeared to have lost control of the vehicle.
One of the general’s close friends, Muhammad Zubair, who was accompanying him in this journey to Lahore also died, but his son, Umer, and driver, Basheer, received minor injuries. After the accident, the injured were shifted to Rawalpindi’s Combined Military Hospital where their treatment was under way.
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“The accident occurred due to a tyre burst. Khalid Shamim passed away in the incident. The injured have been shifted to Combined Military Hospital,” said a spokesperson for Motorway Police.
Wynne, who retired as a four-star general on October 8, 2013, was born on August 28, 1953 in Abbotabad district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and received multiple accolades including the Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Nishan-e-Imtiaz.
He was preceded by General (retd) Tariq Majid and succeeded by General (retd) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
Before his appointment as the JCSC chairman, Wynne was serving as Chief of General Staff (CGS) at General Headquarters (GHQ). He also served as field operational commander of the XII Corps in Quetta from 2007 till 2010, overseeing the Baloch insurgency and the fallout of the war in the tribal areas.
Wynne belonged to 20th Paratroopers Battalion of Punjab Regiment and served army for 42 years.
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Condolences
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi expressed his ‘deep grief and sorrow’ over Wynne’s death and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul. The PM also prayed for swift recovery of the injured, in a press release issued by the PM office media wing.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed grief over the death and conveyed his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to the bereaved family.
[WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP]
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