Overview
- The Inter-Services Public Relations and the Pakistan Army confirmed General Abdul Waheed Kakar’s death in Rawalpindi on Monday, October 26, 2026, and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir issued formal condolences.
- Funeral prayers were held at the Army Racecourse Ground in Rawalpindi and were attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, senior serving and retired military figures, and top government officials.
- Kakar was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment in October 1959, fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars, commanded XII Corps and held senior staff posts after professional training at Canada’s Command and Staff College and Pakistan’s National Defence University.
- He served as army chief from January 1993 to January 1996 and is best known for brokering the "Kakar formula," a 1993 settlement that ended the confrontation between President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and led to a caretaker administration and elections.
- After retiring in January 1996 and handing over to General Jehangir Karamat, Kakar lived a largely private life, and his death has prompted official reflection on his role as a military leader who intervened to restore civilian political order.