ISLAMABAD: Retired Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed, former chief of the general staff (CGS) and ex-director general military operations (DGMO), was laid to rest at H-8 Graveyard on Friday. He was 62.

According to a family member, Gen Ahmed suffered cardiac arrest at his house in Bahria Enclave on Friday morning and was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and a large number of serving and retired army officers were among those who attended the funeral prayers at the H-8 Graveyard.

Gen Ahmed was second on the seniority list in 2016 after chief of general staff Lt Gen Zubair Hayat when the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was the inspector general training and evaluation at that time, as the army chief.

It is said that the blueprint for the successful operation Zarb-i-Azab had been prepared by Gen Ahmed as the DGMO. He took part in the Swat operation as a major general and served in Waziristan as a brigadier.

After his retirement in 2017, Gen Ahmed had joined Mari Petroleum Company.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2021