Iftikhar Ali Khan (general)

Lieutenant General Iftikhar Ali Khan (died August 22, 2009), HI(M), SBt, was the former Secretary of Defence and Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Pakistan Army. He was the elder brother of National Assembly opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan. He died on August 22, 2009 of a heart attack.

Military career
Iftikhar Ali Khan was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in October 1962 in the 26th PMA Long Course. In his army career, Iftikhar Ali Khan served as the Chief Instructor of Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence College, Rawalpindi from April 1991 to May 1993. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in May 1993 and did a brief stint as Commandant National Defence College, Rawalpindi till June 1993. He was then appointed as Commander XXXI Corps, Bahawalpur where he stayed for another two and a half years.

In January 1996, Iftikhar Ali Khan was sent as the Chief of General Staff at the Army GHQ before finally retiring from the army in May 1997. He then stayed as Defence Secretary of Pakistan from May 1997 to October 1999. He opted out of the secretarial position once 1999 military coup took place.