Zahid Ilyas is a retired

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

of the

Pakistan Navy The Pakistan Navy (PN) (; ''romanized'': Pākistān Bahrí'a; ) is the naval warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Chief of the Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Com ...

. His last appointment was of Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (Training and Personnel), DCNS-T&P at

Naval Headquarters Naval Headquarters (NHQ) is the name of the headquarters of many of the world's navies. These include: *Naval Headquarters (Pakistan) *Naval Headquarters (Sri Lanka) Naval Headquarters (NHQ) is the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Navy. Established ...

in Islamabad, he took the office as Head of Training and Personnel branch of Pakistan Navy. Prior to assuming Special Service Group in 2021 his previous assignments include commanding officer '' PNS Babur'' and '' PNS Zulfiquar''. He was also appointed to

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 one of the technologicall ...

as a commanding officer. He graduated from the

Pakistan Naval War College The Pakistan Navy War College is a military staff college located in Walton Cantonment in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The Navy War College takes pride itself as being the "center of excellence" as it educates and develops leaders in maritime mat ...

and the National Defence University besides obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in military operational research from the UK and naval command course from China.

Career

He joined the Pakistan Navy in 1984 and got commissioned in Operations branch in 1988. He served at various posts and units throughout his career such as commander of the 18th destroyer squadron 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 engag ...

for Pakistan headquartered in Bahrain. At staff assignments, his was appointed as principal secretary to Chief of Naval Staff, Director General C4I and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, Training & Evaluation 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 ...

. During his career, he also served as

director general A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

at Joint Cantonment Gwadar Branch in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

Effective dates of promotion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilyas, Zahid Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Pakistan Navy vice admirals National Defence University, Pakistan alumni Pakistan Naval War College alumni Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Year of birth missing (living people)