Ahsan Saleem Hyat

General Ahsan Saleem Hyat (Urdu: احسن سلیم حیات; born 10 January 1948), is a retired four-star rank general officer who served as the vice chief of army staff of Pakistan Army from 2004 until his retirement in 2007. Prior to that, he served as the operational field commander of V Corps in Sindh Province and the full tenured professor of war studies at the National Defence University. He was succeeded by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on 8 October 2007.

Army career
He was a military brat and came from the military family. Through his parents recommendations, he attended the PAF operated PAF High School in Sargodha, Punjab Province of Pakistan. Upon graduation, he went onto attend the Pakistan Military Academy and graduated with a  bachelor's degreefrom his class of 10th War Course of 40th PMA Long Course. He was given commission as the second lieutenant in the Pakistan Army Armoured Corps in 1968 and actively participated in Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 on Western fronts.

As a Brigadier General, he commanded the elite 3rd Independent Armored Brigade based in Lahore from 1991–1993. In 1993, he was posted as Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor of Command and Staff College, Quetta. He also served as DG Planning at the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Secretariat. He also served as the Chief Instructor of Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence University in Islamabad before being promoted to Lieutenant General in December 2000.

Assassination attempt
Before being appointed vice chief, he was the commander of V Corps at Karachi. This formation's area of operation covers almost the entire territory of the province of Sind. During this period, he survived an assassination attempt when his convoy was attacked by militants, who belonged to terrorist outfit Jundallah (Pakistan) or the Army of God. At least 11 men in his escort were killed, but he survived.

Vice Chief of Army Staff
He was commander of V Corps at the time of his promotion to four-star general, and he replaced General Yusaf Khan as the Vice Chief of Army Staff whose term expired in October 2004. Hyat was fourth in seniority when he ascended to the post of VCOAS. Lieutenant Generals Hamid Javaid, Javed Hassan, and Munir Hafiez were senior to him; hence standing superseded once Hyat was promoted. His term expired in October 2007. He was replaced by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who became the country's new army chief once General Pervez Musharraf retired from the army.

General Ahsan later became the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps at the Armoured Corps Regimental Center, Nowshera on 5 May 2005 succeeding General Yusaf Khan, the previous Colonel-in-Chief.