Haider was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1962 first in the 26th PMA Long Course in the Frontier Force Regiment. He did his Masters in Defence Studies from Royal College of Defence Studies, Seaford House, UK, and has the distinction of being the first Pakistani to get his thesis published in Seaford House Papers. He saw action in the 1965 and the 1971 Indo-Pak wars. He served as instructor at PMA from 1967 to 1970. He commanded a reconnaissance and support battalion twice in 1975–77 and in 1981–82. Later he was head of Pakistan Mutual Cooperation Group in Somalia from 1978 to 1981. Subsequently, he served as GSO-I operations and colonel staff in an infantry division.
Senior command and staff appointments
Promoted to brigadier in 1983, he left for the UK to attend Royal College of Defence Studies course in 1984 and was the first Pakistani officer whose thesis was published in Seaford House papers. He was appointed director military training at GHQ in 1986 and was closely associated with planning of Zarb-e-Momin. As a two-star, Haider commanded the 33rd Infantry Division at Quetta from 1989 to 1991. He then stayed as the Deputy Chief of General Staff at the GHQ from 1991 to 1993. After becoming a three-star general, he first served as the Adjutant General from 1993 to 1996, and then as the Corps Commander Lahore from 1996 to 1997.
Government service
After retirement in March 1997, he was installed as the Governor of Sindh province by the Nawaz Sharif government. He continued to serve as the governor till June 1999 when he was replaced by Mamnoon Hussain. At the onset of military coup in October 1999, General Pervez Musharraf, a junior to Haider as he belonged to 29th PMA Long Course, put Haider as the Interior Minister of Pakistan. He continued to lead the powerful ministry till the 2002 October elections, when Faisal Saleh Hayat replaced him. During his time as Interior Minister he was very involved in hunting down and bringing to justice the killers of American Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Moinuddin Haider is the graduate of PAF Public School Lower Topa and is the current patron in chief of the Lower Topa Old Boys Association. He is married and has three children.
