Imtiaz Ahmed (4 June 1935 - 18 June 2025) commonly known as Imtiaz Billa, was a Pakistani retired military officer and spy who served as the director-general of the Intelligence Bureau from 1990 to 1993. After a brief time in

Combat Engineering A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, tunnel and mine warfare tas ...

in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

, his career was mostly spent at the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...

(ISI) agency, where he was responsible for running

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

before serving in the civilian Intelligence Bureau. In 1989, his military commission was discharged when he was implicated in the

Operation Midnight Jackal Operation Midnight Jackal, or simply known as Midnight Jackal, was a first of two major political scandals that took place in the first term of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1988–89 that was a plot of ISI's Internal Wing to as ...

political scandal in trying to sabotage then-Pakistani Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

's administration. In 1993, General Asif Nawaz Janjua's widow accused

Shehbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan (; born 31 July 1954) is a Pakistani politician who served as the Interior Minister from 2013 to 2017. He had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023. He however was uns ...

, and Brigadier Imtiaz of being behind her husband's death. In 2001, Ahmed was convicted by the anti-corruption court when NAB prosecuted him on monetary

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

. Ahmed is a controversial figure in Pakistan, having been accused of involvement in the custodial death of

Communist Party of Pakistan The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP; Urdu: ) is a communist party in Pakistan founded in 1948 by Sajjad Zaheer. History The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) was founded in Calcutta, India, soon after the establishment of Pakistan on 6 March ...

leader Nazeer Abbasi in 1980. He was later accused of having foreknowledge of the plane crash that resulted in the death of President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, CJCSC Gen. Akhtar Abdur Rahman and other dignitaries in 1988. He died on 18 June 2025 in

CMH Rawalpindi The Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi is a tertiary care military hospital in Rawalpindi.Kashmiri family in

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 4 June 1935, according to the Indian author, P.C. Joshi. After

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

, he joined the

and entered the

Pakistan Military Academy Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) is a military academy located nearby Kakul village in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Established in October 1947, it is the only service academy in Pakistan that trains cadets to serve as army of ...

Kakul Kakul (Kakol) is a village situated in the Tehsil and District Abbottabad, at an elevation of 1300 metres, 5 km northeast of center of Abbottabad city near the Thandiani Hills. Abbottabad is a District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pa ...

. He decided to attend the Military College of Engineering in

Risalpur Risalpur (Pashto/) is a city in Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Nowshera-Mardan Road. It is nearly 45 km from Peshawar and 18 km from Mardan and is located at 34°4'52N 71°58'21E. In a basin some 316 meters abo ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(B.S.) in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

, and earned a commission as a Second lieutenant (2nd-Lt.) in the

Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers is a military administrative and the engineering staff branch of the Pakistan Army. The Corps of Engineers is generally associated with the civil engineering works, dams, canals, and flood protection, ...

in 1960. His career was largely spent in the Army Corps of Engineers, and he served on the combat engineering formations during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistan's second war with India, and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 their third war with India. After 1971, Ahmed was directed to attend the staff course at the Command and Staff College in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

. Due to his cunning and greenish 'feline' eye color, Ahmed was well known by his codename in the ISI as " ''billa''" (the male cat). In the late 1970s, he joined the

(ISI) as a security analyst and remained associated with Pakistan's intelligence community for many years. In 1979, as a Major, Ahmed was posted on a security assignment to the

Karachi Nuclear Power Plant The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (or KANUPP) is a large commercial nuclear power plant located at the Paradise Point in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Officially known as Karachi Nuclear Power Complex, the power generation site is composed of three ...

(KANUPP), involved in running

background check A background check is a process used by an organisation or person to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and check their past record to confirm education, employment history, and other activities, and for a criminal record. The fr ...

s and providing covert security to the technicians working on the power plant. In 1979, he became aware of a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) '

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...

' working as an engineer, who was trying to seek security details on the commercial nuclear power plant for

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

purposes. After thoroughly running background checks, Ahmad identified the suspected mole, and that eventually led to ' Operation Rising Sun', a sting operation that resulted in the successful arrest and conviction of a local Pakistani CIA agent, declaration of a few undercover CIA agents and diplomats at the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi as ''

persona non-grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'', and their return to the United States. The details and veracity of this assignment has been criticized in an editorial written in ''Dawn'', whose investigations identified the engineer who was working for the

Karachi Electric K-Electric Limited (KE), formerly known as Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited or Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Limited, is a Pakistani utility company based in Karachi. Privatised in 2005, KE is the only vertically integrated utili ...

(KE)

electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

, and who had been a prominent member of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

, not working for the KANUPP nuclear power plant as claimed by Ahmed. After the

1990 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 24 October 1990 to elect the members of the National Assembly. The elections were primarily a contest between the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA, a four party alliance led by the ruling Pakistan Pe ...

was held, and

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

was forming his first ministry, Imtiaz Ahmed was re-appointed as the DG Intelligence Bureau. In 1992, he aided in launching of the

Operation Clean-up Operation Clean-up, also known as Operation Blue Fox, was an armed military intelligence program led by the Sindh Police and Pakistan Rangers, with an additional assistance from the Pakistan Army and its related intelligence agencies. Plann ...

armed operation to cleanse Karachi of "anti-social" elements, and ultimately targeting the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) once the Jinnahpur conspiracy to partition Karachi from Sindh was unearthed. After the resignations of Prime Minister Sharif and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan (20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician and statesman who served as the seventh President of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as Chairm ...

, Ahmed resigned from the directorship of the Intelligence Bureau. He termed his resignation as "on principle" on 19 April 1992. In 1997, Ahmed was appointed by Prime Minister Sharif as Director-General of the

Federal Investigation Agency The Federal Investigation Agency (; reporting name: FIA) is a border control, criminal investigation, counter-intelligence and security agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan, tasked with investigative jurisdiction on u ...

but the appointment did not come through. In October 1997, Ahmed took over the chairmanship of

Network Television Marketing Network Television Marketing or ''NTM'' was Pakistan's first private television slot. The company's productions first aired on Peoples TV Network (PTN, later renamed as STN) in 1990. In the 1990s, PTN entered into a three-year agreement with In ...

, appointed by its board of directors amid controversy when NTM's chairman Faisal Sher Jan was fired from the channel. He chaired the channel until 1999. After the coup of General Musharraf in 1999, Brigadier Imtiaz kept a low profile until his death in 2025. In 2001, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for corruption charges, and was released in 2008–09. On 21 September 2010, Imtiaz Ahmed was again arrested along with Adnan Khawaja, the former chairman of the

Oil and Gas Development Company Oil & Gas Development Company Limited, commonly known as OGDC, is a Pakistani state-owned oil and gas company headquartered in Islamabad. It is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. It is the largest company in Pa ...

(OGDC), and was shifted to Adiala Jail. In a Supreme Court bench headed by then-

Chief Justice of Pakistan The chief justice of Pakistan ( initials as CJP; , ''Munsif-e-Āzam Pākistān'') is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistani judiciary. The Federal Court of Pakistan was establis ...

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who heard the NRO implementation case, Ahmed was arrested from the court by order of the Supreme Court during the hearing of a case relating to the implementation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). On 25 September 2010, the Supreme Court eventually released Ahmed as he already had served his time. His release was given on grounds of his age and medical condition, as he reportedly suffered from

coronary artery disease Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...

. He passed away on 18 June 2025 in

CMH Rawalpindi The Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi is a tertiary care military hospital in Rawalpindi.Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt-Col.) Ahmed joined the Joint Counterintelligence Bureau (JCIB), mainly working in

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

management and overseeing anti-communist operations in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

. In 1981, he began investigating the militant

Al-Zulfiqar al-Zulfikar was a faction formed in 1979 by Pakistani politician Murtaza Bhutto. Named after his father and former Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the group opposed the government of military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who had de ...

group, after the 1981 Pakistan International Airlines hijacking, eventually expanding their spying on the leaders of the MRD led by

in 1982–85. From 1983 to 1988, he also monitored the

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

judicial probe that implicated the journalists

Jam Saqi Jam Saqi (Sindhi: ڄام ساقي) (October 31, 1944 – March 5, 2018) popularly known as Comrade Jam Saqi, was a left-wing politician from Sindh, Pakistan. He was previously the general secretary of the Communist Party of Pakistan. Saqi was imp ...

and Sohail Sangi, and harboured doubts of foreign funding of the MRD alliance led by Benazir Bhutto. Over this judicial probe, the

politicians leveled accusations of Ahmed's CI Bureau in Sindh of ''wrongfully'' investigating communist Nazeer Abbasi's political ambitions, and whose custody resulted in his death at the hands of the

Sindh Police The Sindh Police (Urdu: , ), is a law enforcement agency established in 1843 under a proclamation issued by Sir Charles James Napier, who became the conqueror of the State of Sindh by defeating the forces of the Talpur rulers at the Battle of Mi ...

. In 1986–87, Col. Ahmed was appointed as the Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau before being posted to take over the directorship of the JCIB in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

when

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

(Lt-Gen.)

Akhtar Abdur Rahman Akhtar Abdur Rahman (11 June 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistan Army general who served as the 5th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987 until his death in 1988. He previously served as the 12th Director-General of Inter-Servic ...

became DG ISI In 1988, Brig. Ahmed was appointed as director of the Political Wing of the ISI in Islamabad, managing the country's

and tried uniting the

Pakistan National Alliance The Pakistan National Alliance (Urdu: پاکستان قومی اتحاد, Acronym: PNA), was a populist and consolidated right and left political alliance, consisting of nine political parties of the country. Formed in 1977, the country's leadi ...

conservative mass against the left-oriented

(PPP). Due to the complaints of Naseerullah Babar, Security Adviser at the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

, Brig. Ahmad was rotated back to the Corps of Engineers on a construction engineering assignment in

, but his skills of intelligence

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

and extraction was valuable, so he eventually found a way to secretly serve in the Intelligence Bureau. In 1989, Brig. Imtiaz, in a secret conversation with

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Amir Khan, talked on sponsoring the Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to the PPP to bring about a

vote of no-confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

movement to remove Prime Minister

in order to bring the

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

(PML(N)), led by its then-President

Fida Mohammad Khan Fida Mohammad Khan ( 24 November 1919 – 20 December 2007) was a Pakistani conservative economist and lawyer who served as the Governor of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province under the military government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq from 19 ...

and his chief secretary

, into the administration. The plan backfired when the conversation was apparently videotaped by the IB and ISI, and was released to the public, which eventually led to General

Mirza Aslam Beg Mirza Aslam Beg (born 15 February 1928), also known as M. A. Beg, is a retired Pakistani four-star rank general who served as the third Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief ...

, then- Army Chief, to allow

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

(MI) to conduct the inquiry in such manner. Both Brig. Ahmed and Major Amir Khan were discharged from their military commissions in 1989. The inquiry remains classified since it is still unclear who the real culprit behind the plot was, or was it under the instructions of the DG ISI Shamsur Rahman Kallu. After his discharge in 1989, Ahmed was reportedly employed by then-Chief Minister of Punjab,

, as his Additional Chief Secretary in the Government of Punjab, which he served as until 1990.

Director of IB (1990–93) and Later work

After the

was held, and

was forming his first ministry, Imtiaz Ahmed was re-appointed as the DG Intelligence Bureau. In 1992, he aided in launching of the

but the appointment did not come through. In October 1997, Ahmed took over the chairmanship of

(OGDC), and was shifted to Adiala Jail. In a Supreme Court bench headed by then-

Controversies and allegations

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured the

plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...

after the

1993 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle. Prio ...

, and Prime Minister Bhutto opened the investigation and inquiry when authorizing the

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

s of Imtiaz Ahmed on charges of indulging in illegal activities in 1994. The case against him was marked on the political motives, and he was later released due to lack of evidences. After the

1999 Pakistani coup d'état The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless ''coup d'état'' initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharr ...

by General

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

, the inquiries led by NAB indicted Ahmed on large-scale corruption and misappropriation of funds while serving as the Director of IB, eventually finding him guilty in 2001. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for corruption, and was released in 2008–09. On 21 September 2010, Imtiaz Ahmed was again arrested along with Adnan Khawaja, the former chairman of the

(OGDC), and was shifted to Adiala Jail. In a Supreme Court bench headed by then-

Foreknowledge of Bahawalpur incident

In 2009 Humayun Akhtar Khan, the former

Commerce Minister A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial poli ...

and son of Gen.

, had leveled accusations when he reportedly marked: ''Brig. Imtiaz is the man who encouraged my father to board on the C-130 aircraft which later met an accident. I ask Brig. Imtiaz to explain what led him to play a role in my father's killing'', Humayun Akhtar maintained.

Jinnahpur plan controversy

After his release in 2009, Ahmed became an intelligence commentator and gave several television interviews on intelligence management. He revealed that the Jinnahpur conspiracy was fabricated while giving more information on the Operation Midnight Jackal secret funding of political parties against the PPP.Who is behind the 'get Nawaz' campaign?

The News (Pakistan) ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that c ...

26 August 2009

Director of IB (1990–93) and Later work

Controversies and allegations

Foreknowledge of Bahawalpur incident

Jinnahpur plan controversy

See also

Notes

References

Further reading