In a major reshuffle, Pakistan's new army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday appointed Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar as the new head of nation's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The chief also made other significant changes in the military's top brass after he was appointed replacing Raheel Sharif as the new army head.
Bajwa removed the former ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar abruptly and instead appointed him as the president of the National Defence University (NDU), according to an army statement.
A graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, National Defence University, Islamabad, and War Course USA, the ISI chief has great experience in intelligence and has previously headed the counter-terrorism wing of ISI in Islamabad. He was also commissioned in the Armoured Corps regiment in 1983 and has also commanded a Mechanised Division. Mukhtar was also assigned as the corps commander of Karachi recently, according to reports.
The Pakistan Army is one of the most influential institutions in the nation having ruled Pakistan for almost half of its 69-years of independence. The army also enjoys extensive power in civil administrations. Considering this, the reshuffle is being seen as Bajwa's attempt to put in a "new team" after he was appointed as the 16th Chief of Army Staff on November 29.
As the new ISI head, Mukhtar will have to handle the deteriorating relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and India and Pakistan.
The head of the spy agency, ISI, is one of the most influential positions in Pakistan. However the agency is mired in controversies and is often accused of supporting Islamist militants, particularly those who target India, and also of sheltering the Afghan Taliban and other associated militants. The Pak government and the military deny any association with militants.
Lt Gen Nazir Butt, presently president of the NDU, has been appointed Corps Commander Peshawar (11Corps), replacing Lt Gen Hidayat-ur-Rehman, who was appointed Inspector-General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at General Headquarters (GHQ).
