Bilal Akbar

Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar is an officer from Artillery Corps of the Pakistan Army. He was commissioned on 14 March 1986 from 73rd PMA Long Course.

He served as General Officer Commanding of the 11th Division (Pakistan) based in Lahore before assuming the command of Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) on 18 September 2014. He was promoted to Lieutenant General on 11 December 2016 and is currently serving as Chief of General Staff (CGS) at GHQ, Rawalpindi. .

In his term as DG Rangers, he has been accused of the forced disappearance and killings of political activists in Karachi and rounding up political activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Early life
Akbar is related to the Phanbra family of Gujjars from Sialkot District, Punjab, Pakistan. He is a graduate of Command and Staff College Quetta, Turkish Staff College Istanbul and the National Defence University, Pakistan.

Human rights violations
Akbar's tenure as DG Rangers Karachi saw establishment of paramilitary courts. While in office MQM claimed that Aftab Ahmed was tortured to death after he was kidnapped by paramilitary forces. Rangers' press release denied that he died of torture, rather, he had a heart attack. The torture marks on Ahmed's body got international media attention.