Consultation between PM Imran Khan, COAS over DG ISI completed, confirms Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said the process of consultation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa over the appointment of the new director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) “has been completed”, and that the process of a fresh appointment “is underway”.

According to him, a consensus between the two officials has been achieved.

“…the process after the new appointment has started. Once again the civil and military leaderships have proved that for the sake of the country’s stability, integrity and development, all the institutions are united and equal,” said the minister in his tweet.

وزیر اعظم اور آرمی چیف کے درمیان نئے DG ISI کی تقرری پر مشاورت کا عمل مکمل ہو چکا ہے اور نئ تقرری کا پراسس شروع ہو چکا ہے، ایک بار پھر سول اور فوجی قیادت نے یہ ثابت کیا ہے کہ ملک کے استحکام، سالمیت اور ترقی کیلئے تمام ادارے متحد اور یکساں ہیں

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— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 13, 2021

On October 12, during a post-cabinet briefing, Fawad said that the federal government would adopt legal and constitutional procedures over the appointment of DG ISI.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had the authority to appoint DG ISI and had a detailed meeting with COAS General Bajwa in that regard, he told the media.

The minister categorically had said that there would be no step taken either from the PM office or the military to damage the repute of one another.

“Both civil and military leaderships enjoy good and close ties, and the final decision would be taken with consensus,” Chaudhry had added.

Army reshuffle 

In a second major shuffle within the army in a month recently, Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed was transferred as the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum took over as director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

A statement issued, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said that Lt Gen Nauman Mehmood, who was the Peshawar corps commander, was appointed as the president of the National Defence University.

Meanwhile, Lt Gen Muhammad Saeed, who was at the NDU, was posted as Karachi corps commander as a replacement of Lt Gen Nadeem.

On the other hand, Lt Gen Muhammad Amir was appointed as corps commander Gujranwala and Lt Gen Asim Munir was posted as the quartermaster general.

The ISPR had also announced that Major General Asim Malik was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and appointed the adjutant general of the Pakistan army.