Ghulam Ahmed

Ghulam Ahmed was born at Khanna in Punjab in 1901 and earned a master's degree from Punjab University in 1923. After independence he held several senior administrative posts, directing Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau and serving as secretary in the ministries responsible for the interior, information and broadcasting, and states and frontier regions. He represented Pakistan at the United Nations in 1957, then chaired the West Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority. ¹

He succeeded his brother, Aziz Ahmed, as ambassador in Washington in 1963. During the Rann of Kutch fighting in April 1965, he pressed Assistant Secretary of State Phillips Talbot to support Pakistan against what he described as Indian aggression. He argued that the disputed territory belonged to Sind and challenged American objections to Pakistan's use of U.S.-supplied tanks there. Talbot rejected that interpretation of the military aid agreement and urged an immediate cease-fire. ^{1, 2}

Ahmed joined President Ayub Khan's delegation at Blair House in December 1965 as the two governments tried to repair relations after the war with India. The discussion covered Pakistan's ties with China, the forthcoming Soviet sponsored talks at Tashkent, and whether to issue a joint communiqué. Ahmed told the meeting that he had received no instructions to prepare one; the foreign secretary and foreign minister initially opposed it. A communiqué was nevertheless issued the following day. ³