ISLAMABAD: Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik has been appointed as the Inter-Services Intelligence director general and will take charge on September 30.
The announcement was run by state broadcaster PTV News on its official X account. Gen Malik is currently serving as an adjutant general at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the statement said.
In October 2021, then-Major General Asim Malik had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, as well as appointed the army’s adjutant general. During his military career, Gen Malik has served in the Balochistan infantry division and commanded the infantry brigade in Waziristan, PTV News said.
It highlighted that the new DG ISI had been awarded a Sword of Honour in his course. Other than that, Gen Malik has also served as the chief instructor at the National Defence University in Islamabad and as an instructor at the Command and Staff College Quetta.
The military officer is a graduate of Fort Leavenworth in the United States and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, the statement added. The newly appointed official will be replacing Lt Gen NadeemAnjum, who was appointed in 2021 by then-prime minister Imran Khan.
Gen 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 Karachi corps commander in December 2020.
His appointment had come after nearly three weeks of an alleged standoff between the military and the government over the appointment of Pakistan’s new spymaster.
The army had announced on Oct 6, 2021 that the former ISI chief, Lt Gen FaizHameed, had been made the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his place. But the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had not since issued an official notification of Lt Gen Anjum’s appointment, leading to rumours about strains in civil-military relations.
According to experts in defence matters, the procedure for appointment of the ISI director general is neither mentioned in the Constitution nor the Army Act, and all previous appointments were made as per traditions under which the army chief proposes three names to the prime minister who then makes the final decision.
