Eqbal Ahmad (1933/34 - May 11, 1999) was a Pakistanii writer,,journalist and anti-war activist. He was strongly critical of the Middle East strategy of the United States as well as what he saw as the "twin curse" ofnationalism and religeous fanaticism in such countries as Pakistan.

Ahmad graduated from Forman Christian College in Lahore Pakistan, in 1951 with a degree in economics. After serving briefly as an army officer, he enrolled at Ocidental College in California in 1957. From 1958 to 1960, 

From 1960 to 1963, Ahmad lived in North Africa, working primarily in Algeria where he joined theNational Liberation Front. He was offered an opportunity to join the first independent Algerian government and refused in favor of life as an independent intellectual.

When he returned to the United States, he became known as one of the earliest and most vocal opponents of American policies . From 1968 to 1972, he was a fellow at the Adlai Stevenson Institute in Chicago.

In 1971, Ahmad was indicted with the anti-war  on charges of conspiracy to kidnap Henery Kissinger. After fifty-nine hours of deliberations, the jury declared a mis trial in 1972.

In the early 1990s, Ahmad was granted a parcel of land in Pakistan by Benazir Bhutto'sgovernment to build an independent, alternative university, named Khaldunia.

Upon his retirement from Hampshire in 1997, he settled permanently in Pakistan, where he continued to write a weekly column, for Dawn Pakistan's oldest English-language newspaper. Eqbal died in Islamabad in 1999 of heart failure following an operation for colon cancer.

Ahmad was the founding chancellor of the then newly established Textile Institute of Pakistan a textile oriented science, design and business degree awarding institute. The institute actively claims to be driven by the very values Ahmad stood for and awards its most prestigious honor, the Dr. Eqbal Ahmed Achievement Award to one graduate unanimously deemed by the faculty as reflective of Ahmad's values at its annual convocation.