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Pak PM Imran Khan approves appointment of new ISI chief, ending fallout with army

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Oct 27, 2021, 08:35 AM IST
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Imran Khan Photograph:(AFP)

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The incumbent ISI director general, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, will continue to hold the charge as the spymaster till November 19, 2021

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has given approval for the appointment of Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum as the next chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, ending days of stand-off with the powerfully military.

Anjum will replace the incumbent Lt Gen Faiz Hameed from next month.  Anjum, who was commissioned in service in September 1988, earlier headed Corps V in Karachi.

He commanded a brigade in Kurram Agency, led Frontier Corps (North) in Balochistan and remained commandant of Command and Staff College Quetta before becoming corps commander Karachi in December 2020.

According to the notification issued by the PMO dated October 26, the incumbent ISI director general, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, will continue to hold the charge as the spymaster till November 19, 2021.

The appointment comes nearly three weeks after the military issued a statement to the media on October 6 naming Anjum as the next ISI chief, replacing Hameed.

As per the convention, the Pakistan Army forwards the names of three lieutenant generals to the prime minister, who picks one as the ISI director general.

Though the formal announcement about the choice is made by the prime minister, it is widely understood that the army chief conveys which of the three officers should be picked for the post.

The face-off began on October 6 when the army announced the posting of Lt Gen Anjum as DG ISI in place of Lt Gen Hamid, who was posted out as the commander of Peshawar-based Corps XI.

However, his appointment had not been immediately notified by the prime minister’s office indicating a deadlock between the Imran Khan-led government and the military — the first publicly known stand-off since the former came to office in 2018.

It was reported that Khan wanted to retain outgoing ISI chief Hameed till December, but Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had taken strong exception to it.

(With inputs from agencies)