AFTER defeating Napoleon Bonaparte at the historical battle of Waterloo the British commander, Duke of Wellington had remarked “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton” The duke was a proud graduate of Eton College and commander in chief of the British forces at the battle of Waterloo. This happened ten years after the battle of Waterloo while watching a cricket match at Eton the duke was heard to say the battle of Waterloo was won here. This British hero who defeated napoleon did not mean literally that Eton men had won the battle, he merely meant that games and training at schools like Eton inculcated qualities in men that developed good soldiers and exemplary leaders. Throughout its history of over fife hundred and eighty years Eaton College has provided leaders and torch bearers in different walks of life to the British Nation. Cadet College Hassanabdal is one institution that has the unique distinction of providing heroic leaders not only to the armed forces but also to many other institutions of Pakistan.
Eton college in England was founded in 1440 during the reign of King Henry VI which makes it 581 years old but our own Cadet college Hassanabdal is a mere toddler as compared to Eton as it was founded in 1954 only. This was the first Cadet College to be established in Pakistan.
It was established by the Punjab Government but was initiated by the vision of General Ayub Khan who was the first Pakistani Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army, his idea was that this school will serve as a feeder intuition for the armed forces training academies and act as a nursery for the future leaders of the armed forces. Military wings were started in 1952 in Govt. College Sahiwal or Montgomery at that time, and Islamia College Peshawar. When the main education block built by a Pakistani firm of contractors called Amir Ahmed Viqar Ahmed was completed in 1954 these military wings were transferred to Hassanabdal and the new college opened its doors to students as Punjab Cadet College with an iconic educationist Mr. Hugh Catchpole as the founding principal and in 1960 the college was re named Cadet College Hassanabdal with a board of governors to exercise administrative control over the college.The two principals who followed Catchpole, A.W.E. Winlaw and Lt Col J.D.H. Chapman, were also British. This institution has always been headed by the most eminent educationists of the country such as Mr. N.A Beg, Professor Shaukat Sultan, Col. N.D. Hassan, Brigadier Naser Uddin, Professor Zafar Ali Shah, Brigadier Shah Bahadur, Professor Asif Malik, Air Cdr. Tayyab Akhtar, Professor Syed Dilshad Hussein, Major General Najeeb Tariq and Brigadier Nasir Khattak. Some of these eminent teacherslike Mr. Dilshad Hussein and Mr. N. A. Beg dedicated their entire life to the service of the Cadet College. Cadet College was fortunate that an educationist like Hugh Catchpole was handpicked by the Govt. to head this premier military educational institution of Pakistan. It was Mr. Catchpole who gave a head start to this school and built it up from the ground to be one of the finest institutions of the country. He was born in 1907 at Ipswich a small town of Suffolk in England and went on to earn a master’s degree in history from Oxford University. He had a pilot’s license and had played cricket for the Suffolk County. His career as a teacher and educationist spanned over seventy years in the sub-continent. He joined the Royal Indian Military College Dehra Dun in 1928 as assistant master and then became principal in 1948. He stayed back until 1954 before joining as principal f Cadet College Hassanabdal. Legends of the PAF Asghar Khan and Nur Khan were both his students and it was Asghar Khan who asked him to Join PAF college Sargodha in 1958. He died at the age of 90 in 1997 and according to his will was buried in the soil of his beloved Cadet College HassanabdalThe College prepares students for the secondary school and intermediate examinations conducted by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and also of GCE O Levels and A Levels of the UK. Many of the cadets try for entry to different military academies like the PMA or the PAF academy Risalpur or the Naval Academy but many go for other professions like the civil services, engineering and medicine. Sports too are mandatory and include Hockey, football, cricket, tennis, squash, swimming, basketball and horse riding. Physical training or PT is conducted in the morning and sports in the evening. Activities and hobbies like debates, aero modelling and public speaking are encouraged and promoted.
The college is spread over 98 acres of land that has a mosque, an education block called Naeem Hall in memory of Captain Naeem Akhtar, six boarding wings Two messes known as Khatlani hall and Hussein Shah Hall in memory of two ex-cadets. It has a swimming pool, hospital, administrative block, work shop and hobbies block and residential accommodation for the faculty. During its short history of 57 years the college has produced some very eminent personalities and military leaders of Pakistan that include Admiral Zakaullah, Chief of Naval Staff, Khalid Shameem Wyne, Chairman Joint Chiefs, Abbas Khattak Chief of Air Staff. Javed Ashraf Qazi, Federal Minister, Iftikhar Ali Khan CGS army. Masood Aslam Commander XI corps, Khawaja Asif Federal Minister Naweed Zaman Rector NUST. Hamid Jawaid COS and chairman HIT, Afzal Janjua of ISI, Major Nadir Pervez Federal Minister. Today all Abdalians can say with pride wars with our enemies were won on the playing fields of Cadet College Hassanabdal. The college also has the distinction of winning many gallantry awards on the field of battle. So far about twenty old boys have won the Sitara-i-Jurat (SJ) and other awards and some of them have sacrificed their lives in the defense of the homeland.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
Email: tariq.aqil@headstart.edu.pk
