Zahid Ali Akbar Khan | |
---|---|
Birth name | Zahid Ali Akbar |
Nickname(s) | Zach |
Born |
Jalandhar, East Punjab, British Indian Empire, (present-day India) |
9 January 1933
Allegiance | Pakistan |
Service/branch | Pakistan Army |
Years of service | 1952-1990 |
Rank | Lieutenant-General |
Service number | PA – 4499 |
Unit | Corps of Engineers, Pakistan Army |
Commands held |
Project-706 Adjutant-General (AG) X Corps, Rawalpindi E-in-C Military Engineering Service Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research Laboratories Army Technological Research Laboratories |
Battles/wars |
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Siachen conflict of 1984 |
Awards | Tamgha-i-Khidmat |
Other work | Chairman Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) |
Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar Khan (Urdu: زاہد على اكبر; 9 January 1933), TKdt, was an engineering officer in the Pakistan Army who oversaw the construction of the General Headquarters (GHQ), and is well known as the director of the Kahuta Project as part of the Pakistan's acquisition of integrated atomic bomb project. After graduating from the Military College of Engineering, Akbar was commissioned in Corps of Engineers, and took participation in both the 1965 and the 1971 wars; and finally reached to a prestigious three-star assignment, the Engineer-in-Chief, while he also served as the military Science Adviser advising the military government of Zia-ul-Haq on important matters on science and technology, from 1977 until 1983.
In January 1976, as a Brigadier he was delegated by then-Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the fledgling uranium-enrichment program under Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. He spearheaded the construction of science facilities (KRL) at Kahuta. Although, according to Dr A.Q. Khan, Brigadier Zahid Ali Akbar was deputed to KRL by Gen Zia Ul Haq.