Rizwan Akhtar

Rizwan Akhtar HS  HI(M) (Urdu: رضوان اختر) is a former three-star rank Pakistan Army general. He is a former spymaster who served as Director General of the ISI.^[3] He served from 8 November 2014 to 11 December 2016. On 8 October 2017, he announced his pre-mature retirement from the army.^[1]

Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar HS  HI(M)
رضوان اختر
President National Defence University, Islamabad
In office 11 December 2016[1] – 9 October 2017
26th Director General of the ISI
In office 7 November 2014 – 11 December 2016
President	Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Preceded by	Zaheer-ul-Islam
Succeeded by	Naveed Mukhtar
Director General Pakistan Rangers (Sindh)
Military service
Allegiance	Pakistan
Branch/service	Pakistan Army
Years of service	1982 – 2017[2]
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Unit	Frontier Force Regiment
Commands	President National Defence University DG ISI DG Rangers (Sindh)
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan (2001–present) War in North-West Pakistan (Operation Zarb-e-Azb) Karachi Operation
Awards	Hilal-e-Shujaat Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military)

Military career

Rizwan Akhtar was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in the Frontier Force Regiment in September 1982. He commanded an infantry brigade and infantry division in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after serving as Operation and Planning Officer at Peshawar Corps.

As Director General of the Pakistan Rangers in Sindh, Major General Rizwan Akhtar was the Mastermind behind the Karachi Operation. Akhtar played a key role to restore normalcy in the Financial Capital which was reeling under high crime rate, gang-wars and terrorism. Rizwan Akhtar's successor Bilal Akbar took Karachi Operation to its logical end by completely bulldozing the armed wings of the political parties oiling gang war in the city, which contributing in the recovery of the city by which Karachi was declared one of the safest cities of the world by 2017.^[4][5]

Akhtar is also considered to have extensive experience of counterinsurgency from a previous posting in the border region of South Waziristan. After getting promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in September 2014, he was posted as Director General of the ISI. He was the President of the National Defence University but took pre-mature retirement from the army in October 2017.^[1][3]

Academic career

Rizwan Akhtar is a graduate of the Command and Staff College in Quetta, National Defense University, Islamabad (NDU) and United States Army War College, Pennsylvania, USA. At the US Army War College, Akhtar authored a strategy research project report titled ‘US-Pakistan trust deficit and the war on terror’ in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master in Strategic Studies Degree.^[6]

Awards and decorations

Hilal-e-Shujaat (Crescent of Bravery) 2015	Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) (Crescent of Excellence)		Tamgha-e-Baqa (Nuclear Test Medal) 1998
Tamgha-e-Istaqlal Pakistan (Escalation with India Medal) 2002	10 Years Service Medal	20 Years Service Medal	30 Years Service Medal
35 Years Service Medal	Tamgha-e-Sad Saala Jashan-e- Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam (100th Birth Anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah) 1976	Hijri Tamgha (Hijri Medal) 1979	Jamhuriat Tamgha (Democracy Medal) 1988
Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha (Resolution Day Golden Jubilee Medal) 1990	Tamgha-e-Salgirah Pakistan (Independence Day Golden Jubilee Medal) 1997	Command & Staff College Quetta Instructor's Medal	United Nations MONUC Medal (2 Deployments)

Foreign decorations

Foreign Awards
United Nations	UN MONUC Congo Medal (2 Deployments)