Ehsan ul Haq General Ehsan ul Haq ( born September 22 , 1949 in Mardan ) , is a retired four - star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Military until October 8 , 2007 . After the military coup of 1999 in which General Pervez Musharraf came to power , General Ehsan was given some of the most important posts in the Pakistan Army which included commanding the Army corps in the restive tribal region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ; directing the ISI , the principal intelligence body ; and chairmaning Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee , the Commander - in - chief of Pakistan Armed Forces . Army career . Ehsan ul - Haq graduated from PAF Public School Sargodha in 1967 , and was commissioned in Anti Aircraft Artillery ( later formed as the arm of Army Air Defense ) in October 1969 in the 41st PMA Long Course . While serving in the Army , General Ehsan commanded an Infantry and an Air Defense division . Some of Ehsan ' s achievements consist of graduating from Command and Staff College , Quetta , and National Defense University , Islamabad . He was promoted Brigadier in June 1992 and Major General in June 1996 . After promotion to Major General , Ehsan served as the GOC of 16th Infantry Division ( Pano Aqil ) near Sukkur , Sindh . He was decorated with Hilal - e - Imtiaz for his meritorious military services . During the army takeover in 1999 , Maj Gen Ehsan was Director General of Military Intelligence ( DGMI ) , a post he continued till April 2001 , when he was replaced by Major General Tariq Majid . He was then promoted as Lieutenant General and posted as the commander of Peshawar Corps , a post he continued for few months till October 2001 . Director General ISI . On May 14 , 2001 , Major General Ehsan was promoted to a three - star general and by October 2001 was given the command of Inter - Services Intelligence , the intelligence body of Pakistan . This command changeover was part of a major reshuffle that took place after the events of 9 / 11 , and with Pakistan siding with the United States in the War on Terror . This reshuffle was also important in a sense that Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmed , the former ISI chief and a Taliban sympathizer , was prematurely retired ahead of US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 . Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee . After completing the term as ISI chief , in October 2004 , General Ehsan was promoted to four - star general and was given the chairmanship of JCSC , replacing General Aziz Ahmed Khan , who was due to retire from the Pakistan Army . His appointment to four - star appointment was controversial , and superseding Admiral Shahid Karimullah to the post . His appointment was brutally criticized by the media and many in the media did not welcomed his promotion . In army alone , General Ehsan was eighth in seniority when he ascended to the four - star post , hence superseding seven senior generals . Following were the senior - most Lieutenant Generals ; Hamid Javaid , Javed Hassan , Munir Hafiez , Ahsan Saleem Hyat ( who was promoted to four - star post of VCOAS ) , Tariq Waseem Ghazi , Muhammad Akram , Syed Parwez Shahid , and Ehsan ul Haq . Haq retired from military service on October 8 , 2007 and was replaced by General Tariq Majid as Chairman . his appointment was brutally criticized by the media . General Ehsan ul Haq was later nominated as the first ever Colonel - in - Chief of the Army Air Defense ( AD ) on December 18 , 2004 . The Colonel - in - Chief is usually a general , and is the ceremonial head of his parent arm / service . General Ehsan was recommended to that position by General Pervez Musharraf , who himself was commissioned in a Light Anti Aircraft Regiment . Notes .