Ikram Sehgal (; ) is a Pakistani defence analyst and security expert. He is a retired

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 ...

officer.

Personal life

Sehgal was born to a Punjabi father and Urdu Speaking Bengali mother. On his mother's side, Bengali politicians

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (8 September 18925 December 1963) was an East Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and before that as the Prime Minister of Bengal from 1946 to ...

and J.A. Rahim were his grandmother's first cousins.

Early life and education

Sehgal spent his entire childhood, adolescence and education in the former

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, i.e. today's

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. His father was a commanding officer of the 2nd East Bengal Regiment. When 2nd East Bengal Regiment was in

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

, he studied in a convent school there. He spent several years of his school life in

. His college life started in

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

. His father was then the Sector Commander of EPR in Sylhet. He was admitted to MC College,

. Later he was admitted to Notre Dame College in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. From there he joined 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 ...

in 1964 as a cadet of the 34 PMA Long Course.

Military career

Ikram Sehgal graduated from the

(PMA), Kakul, in October 1965. Commissioned into 2E Bengal (Junior Tigers), he served the regiment till 1968, before qualifying as a pilot in Army Aviation, where he served from 1968 to 1971. It has been reported that Captain Ikram Sehgal revolted with Bengali officers and soldiers and was involved in the killing of Pakistan Army personnel in March 1971. He then became a

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

(POW) in April 1971, while in

and was sent to the Panagarh POW Camp in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In July 1971, Sehgal escaped from the prison. He became the first Pakistani Prisoner of War to escape from an Indian POW camp. Sehgal was posted to 44 Punjab (now 4 Sindh) in November 1971. He saw action as company commander in the

Thar Desert The Thar Desert (), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-large ...

, receiving a ‘battlefield promotion’ to the rank of major on 13 December 1971. He took part in counter–guerrilla operations in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

in 1973. He later worked as a commercial pilot.

Business career

He set up a business in 1977, specializing in trading and counter trade. He is currently chairman, Pathfinder Group Pakistan, which includes two of the country's largest private security companies.

Leadership

Sehgal is also involved in national and international organizations. He is a Member of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

(WEF); International Organization for Migration (IOM); director, East West Institute (EWI), a US-based think-tank; and member, WEF Global Agenda Council (GAC) for

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

. Khalid Ahmad wrote in The Express Tribune that he held "outspoken views" on the conduct of the armed forces during the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

, which ultimately led to the secession of East Pakistan. However,

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

noted that he had written only in 1998: That was before the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report became public.

Later life

He is a regular contributor of articles in newspapers that include: '' The News'' and the Urdu daily '' Jang''. He appears regularly on current affairs programs on television as a ‘defense and security analyst’.90 minutes in an hour of crisis, an article by Ikram Sehgal on Media Monitors Network website
Published 22 January 2002, Retrieved 26 April 2017 at EastWest Institute

References

External links

Ikram Sehgal
at MBM Holdings {{DEFAULTSORT:Sehgal, Ikram Living people People of Punjabi descent Pakistani people of Bengali descent Pakistan Army Aviation Corps officers Pakistani military writers Pakistani prisoners of war Escapees from Indian detention Pakistani columnists Pakistani media personalities Commercial aviators 1946 births Lawrence College Ghora Gali alumni 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis Notre Dame College, Dhaka alumni Murari Chand College alumni Bangladesh Liberation War prisoners of war