M. Akram Sheikh

Former IB Chief (Pakistan)

Muhammad Akram Sheikh, generally referred to as Akram Sheikh, was a career police officer in Pakistan who was one of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chiefs under former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Known Professional History:-

• Superintendent of Police in Criminal Investigation Department, Karachi (mentioned in records of 1961)

• Regional Police Officer, Sargodha (1966-68, 1968-69)

• Promoted to Joint Director IB (1972) [Note: The year of promotion was disclosed in a declassified US Department of State memo, indicating that Sheikh may have joined the organisation previously as Deputy Director]

• Director/ Director General IB (1974-76)

• Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (June-July 1977)

Miscellaneous:-

• He was part of the Bhutto-led delegation to US for meetings with President Gerald R. Ford (1975)

• He was part of a small clique entrusted by Bhutto to compile dossiers on eight Generals who were competing for the post of Chief of Army Staff: M. Shariff, Akbar Khan, Aftab Ahmad Khan, Azmat Buksh Awan, Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram, Malik Abdul Majid, Ghulam Jilani Khan, Muhammad Ziaul Haq (1977)

• He compiled dossiers on parliamentarians in cooperation with the ISI then led by Major General Ghulam Jilani Khan (1977)

• Sheikh served barely a month as DG FIA because he was among the Bhutto loyalists arrested by Martial Law regime of Army Chief General Zia-ul-Haq.

References

Declassified Cable, US Department of State, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=125172&dt=2476&dl=1345

Kausar Niazy, 'Last Days of Premier Bhutto'

Stanley Wolpert, 'Zulfi Bhutto in Pakistan: His Life and Times'

General Khalid Mahmud Arif, 'Working with Zia - Pakistan's Power Politics 1977-1978'

'Secret Documents of Intelligence Branch on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Volume VI (1960-61)'