Ikram Sehgal

Ikram Sehgal, the first Pakistani Prisoner of War to escape from India in 1971, achieved a battlefield promotion to the rank of Major on December 13, 1971, while leading a rifle company in the Thar Desert. He is a frequent speaker at various Defense Services Institutions, including the National Defence University, PAF Air War College, Pakistan Naval War College, National Defence College, and similar institutions in Bangladesh and international think tanks across the USA, UK, Europe, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and more. In his role as Co-Chairman, Ikram Sehgal oversees two major private security companies within the Pathfinder Group Security Services Division (SSD) and innovative IT companies in the Financial Services and Technology Division (FSTD). One notable achievement is VRG’s recognition by the Edison Alliance of the World Economic Forum (WEF), where Sehgal is a member. VRG ranked third globally for ‘digital financial inclusion,’ with nearly 9.0 million Asaan Mobile Accounts (AMA). For two decades, Sehgal has hosted the Pakistan Breakfast event for Pakistan’s Heads of State, government ministers, and prominent figures at WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos. He previously served as Chairman of the Karachi Council of Foreign Affairs (KCFR) and was unanimously elected as the Patron-in-Chief of KCFR. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of Management at Quaid-e-Azam House Museum (Institute of Nation Building) and holds the title of Honorary Senior Fellow at Singularity Academy in Zurich, Switzerland. He actively serves on WEF’s Board of ‘Partnering Against Corruption Initiative’ (PACI) and was a member of WEF’s Global Agenda Council (GAC) for ‘Counter-Terrorism’ for several years. Sehgal is the Chairman of the ‘Pakistan Committee’ at the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce, Geneva. He was a Director of the EastWest Institute New York, a US-based think tank, for over 15 years (now merged with other think tanks). Additionally, he has been on the Executive Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) for the last decade and has served for sixteen years on the Board of Directors of Bank Alfalah since its inception. In January 2019, he was elected as Chairman of K-Electric and is associated as a Director on the Business Advisory Board (BAB) of IOM, Geneva. Ikram Sehgal is a regular contributor to newspapers such as the Daily Times, Express Tribune, Daily Express, Ausaf, Taqat, Khabrain, Intekhab, Ittehad, and Awami Awaz (Sindhi), along with the South Asian Monitor (Malaysia). He has also written for The Nation, Nawa-i-Waqt, The News, and Daily Jang for several years. In his capacity as a defence and security analyst, he frequently appears on current affairs programs on television. Sehgal holds the roles of Publisher & Chief Editor at Defence Journal and was formerly a weekly TV talk show host. He is the author of ‘Escape from Oblivion, a 1971 Episode’ and ‘Blood Over Different Shades of Green,’ both published by Oxford University Press (OUP). He has compiled over 2000 articles from 1980-2020 in ‘A Personal Chronicle of Pakistan’ across 12 volumes, with the 13th and 14th volumes currently in print.