Ijaz Shah
| Brigadier Ijaz Shah | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Brig. Shah |
| Born | Nankana Sahib, Pakistan |
| Allegiance |
 Pakistan |
| Service/branch |
 Pakistan Army
|
| Years of service | 1966–2004 |
| Rank |
 Brigadier
|
| Unit | 15 Infantry Punjab Regiment and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) |
| Commands held | DG Intelligence Bureau (DGIB) |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 |
| Other work | DG of I.B. |
Brigadier Ijaz Shah is a retired Pakistan Army officer and the former Director-General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan, and a long-term close associate of Pervez Musharraf, and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operator. He resigned as the IB chief on 17 March 2008. Appointed in 2004, the IB chief became a controversial and notorious personality in Pakistan where he was accused of using his department for political victimisation and for undermining the judiciary.
Shah was the ISI handling officer of the British-born international terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and part of the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen as well as the handling officer for Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Mohammed Omar. In 1999, while serving a prison sentence for terrorist offence, Sheikh had been released in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight 814. In February 2002, cornered by Pakistani police under strong American diplomatic pressure, Omar Sheikh turned himself to his close confident Brig. Shah, who then was the Home Secretary of the Pakistani Punjab region: Shah briefed Sheikh for a full week before remanding him to police custody.
In 2004, Musharraf's attempt to appoint Ijaz Shah as High Commissioner to Australia was rejected in a highly unusual move by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs. Instead Musharraf appointed him to head Pakistani Intelligence Bureau on 25 February 2004, transferring his predecessor, Wali Muhammad to Australia.
Mr Shah agreed to go to Australia as Pakistan’s high commissioner in 2007, but President Musharraf accepted the current high commissioner’s plea for a year’s extension in tenure.
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Wikipedia