General Ehsan ul Haq NI(M), HI(M) (; born 22 September 1949), is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and a public official, served as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, appointed in October 2005 until his retirement in 2007.
After retiring from his 40 years of military service, Ehsan ul Haq engaged in the corporate sector where he managed the businesses in the healthcare industry, and often offers his public speaking skills on the issues of foreign policy of Pakistan concerning the Arab League.
Biography
Ehsan ul Haq was born in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, into a Pashto-speaking family on 22 September 1949. He was educated at the PAF Public School in Sargodha, a school under the administration of the Air Force Education Command, and matriculated in 1967. He joined the Pakistan Army in 1967, and was directed to attend the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul where he passed out in the class of 41st PMA Long Course from the academy in 1969. 2nd-Lt. Ehsan was commissioned in the Army Air Defence Command, and serving in the Western front of the third war with India in 1971.
After the war with India in 1971, he went to attend the National Defence University in Islamabad where he attained MSc in War Studies in 1977. In addition, Ehsan also went to attend the Command and Staff College in Quetta in 1977 where he was qualified as psc in 1980.
Ehsan was noted as a specialist in anti-aircraft warfare, having educated and graduated master's degree from the PLA Air Force Aviation University in Zhengzhou in China.
War and command appointments in the military
In 1977, Major Ehsan was posted with the Pakistan Armed Forces-Middle East Command where he first served as an instructor to the Iranian Air Force as an exchange officer until 1980. However, Maj. Ehsan left his instructing assignment Iranian IAF before the start of the Iran–Iraq War, and was posted with a command deputation to the Royal Saudi Air Defense which he served until 1983–84. In 1986, Ehsan went to the United States where he attended the United States Army's Logistics Management College in Fort Lee in Virginia and graduated from there in 1989.
In 1990, Brig. Ehsan commanded the 117th Infantry Brigade, later 46 AD Brigade and Deputy Military Secretary in GHQ until 1994 when he was promoted to two-star rank and commanded the 3rd Air Defence Division until 1996. Major-General Ehsan later took over the command of the 16th Infantry Division stationed in Pano Aqil in Sindh as its GOC which he commanded until 1996–97.
After the military takeover of the civilian government in 1999, Maj-Gen Ehsan was appointed as the Director-General of the Military Intelligence (DGMI) and took the command of the MI from then Maj-Gen Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, remaining in this position until April 2001.
In April 2001, Lieutenant-General Ehsan was posted as the field commander of the XI Corps stationed in Peshawar but remained in this command capacity until October 2001.
Director ISI (2001–04)
Political engineering and controlled democracy
On 7 October 2001, Lt-Gen. Ehsan was surprisingly appointed as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) as part of a major reshuffle that took place when President Pervez Musharraf went to dismissed his key army generals involved in the military takeover in 1999. His appointment was in response of removal of the ISI director, Mahmud Ahmed, after the terrorist attacks took place in the United States in September 2001 which was followed by the American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.
About his reception and image, the American Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) ran his profile in June 2002 that described him as holding "moderate Islamic views" and calls him a "protege" of President President Musharraf, saying the two men had a "strong relationship".
Furthermore, he was described as "keenly aware of big picture issues with viewing of strong support for the democracy, advocating that Pakistan needs a legitimate civilian democratic government" and "open with American officials". According to the DIA, Ehsan believes that Pakistan's policy of engagement with the Taliban was to eventually moderate the Taliban's behavior. He played a crucial role in apprehending of the Omar Sheikh, a British terrorist and former MI-6 agent, from Karachi in 2002, and knew well aware of his status as the MI-6 agent as early as 1999.
