Vice Admiral Shahid Iqbal (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

in the

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...

, and former

university administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

who served as the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Bahria University Bahria University (BU; ur, ) is a public-sector university established in 2000 by the Pakistan Navy at Shangrilla Road, Sector E-8/1 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The university maintains campuses in Karachi and Lahore. Established by the Pakistan Na ...

from 2012 until 2015. In 2005, he was notable for being the first admiral in the

when he took over the command of the

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to pur ...

, helping to conduct

military operations A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...

against the

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somal ...

operating in the

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. He took over this post from retiring Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun on 30 December 2009. From 2009–10, Vice-Admiral Iqbal served as the

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

(now known as Vice Chief of Naval Staff) at NHQ.

Biography

Shahid Iqbal was born on 5 July 1953, and was educated at the

Cadet College Petaro Cadet College Petaro is a military boarding school in Jamshoro District of the southern province of Sindh in Pakistan; about 20 miles (32 km) from Hyderabad which is under administration of Pakistan Navy. Its campus occupies over 700 acres ...

in 1966, graduating in 1971. He joined the

in 1972 and attended the

Pakistan Naval Academy The Pakistan Naval Academy (PNA), PNS Rahbar, Manora is a federal military academy located in Manora, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in Manora, Karachi, under Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan in 1970, it is the one of the technologic ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

where he graduated in 1974 with a degree in

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

, gaining commission in the Navy as

Sub-Lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

in the

Naval Operations Branch The Naval Operations Branch (french: Branche des opérations navales) is a personnel branch of the Canadian Forces. The branch consists of most of the seagoing occupations and trades of the Royal Canadian Navy. Members of the branch wear an embro ...

. He was trained as a

surface warfare officer The surface warfare insignia is a military badge of the United States Navy which is issued to U.S. Navy personnel who are trained and qualified to perform duties aboard United States surface warships. There are presently four classes of the surf ...

and served in the various surface warships before being selected to continue his military training in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In 1978, Lt. Iqbal was sent to

where he did his military training at in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, specialized as

Principal warfare officer A principal warfare officer (PWO), is one of a number of warfare branch specialist officers. Australia In Australia, a PWO is a Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Fo ...

with the

Officer Corps An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextu ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. In addition, he attended and graduated from the Turkish Staff College and

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associat ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, gaining his staff course degree. He also attended the National Defence University in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

where gained his

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

War Studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' derives ...

. He also served in the faculty of the

, instructing courses on war studies. His career in the Navy mostly spent in the

Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

(Nav Intel), eventually headed the Naval Intelligence in 2000s as its Director-General. From 2001–05, Cdre. Iqbal headed the

, and was eventually promoted as two-star assignment. On 24 April 2006, RAdm Iqbal was appointed to command the

at the NAVCENT in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

when he relieved

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Commodore Hank Ort and assumed command of the Force. On 22 August 2006, RAdm Iqbal was relieved by German Rear Admiral Heinrich Lange, and returned to Pakistan. RAdm Iqbal was noted for being the first asian admiral of a "regional nation" who was given command of any of the three coalition task forces that comprise the Combined Maritime Force. In 2007, RAdm Iqbal was appointed at the Navy NHQ in

and was later appointed as DCNS (Operations). In 2008, Rear-Admiral Iqbal became the senior fleet commander when he took over the command as Commander Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) from Admiral

Noman Bashir Noman Bashir (Urdu: نعمان بشير) was a Pakistan Navy admiral who served as the 18th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) from 7 October 2008 until retiring on 7 October 2011. His appointment as Chief of Naval Staff was approved by President As ...

. Rear-Admiral Iqbal guided the fleet to be part of the

and

Combined Task Force 151 Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) is a multinational naval task force, set up in 2009 as a response to piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the eastern coast of Somalia. Its mission is to disrupt piracy and armed robbery at sea and to enga ...

to launched operations against the piracy in the coast of Somalia. In 2009, he was promoted to three-star rank, and was again posted in the Navy NHQ as DCNS (Training). Vice-Admiral Iqbal was then appointed as

(now known as Vice Chief of Naval Staff) at NHQ, and took over the post from Vice-Admiral

Asaf Humayun Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun (Urdu: ﺁصف ہمایوں; b.1952), , is a retired three-star rank admiral of Pakistan Navy, currently serving as visiting faculty at the Bahria University in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In 2008, he was notably supers ...

who was appointed as VCNS. In 2010, VAdm Iqbal took retirement from the Navy and was subsequently preceded by Vice-Admiral

Asif Sandila Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila (Urdu: محمد ﺁصف سندیلہ; born: 1954, ), is a retired four-star admiral in the Pakistan Navy who was the 14th Chief of Naval Staff of the Pakistan Navy. Prior to this command appointment, Sandila brie ...

as VCNS. After his retirement in 2010, he joined the university administration of the

and was eventually appointed its

on 8 February 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iqbal, Shahid 1953 births Living people Cadet College Petaro alumni Pakistan Naval Academy alumni National Defence University, Pakistan alumni Academic staff of the National Defence University, Pakistan Academic staff of Pakistan Naval War College Pakistan Naval War College alumni Naval intelligence Pakistan Navy admirals Pakistani academic administrators

Biography

See also

References