Pakistan PM Imran Khan approves appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as new ISI chief
The Pakistan Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday notified the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He will replace the incumbent Lt Gen Faiz Hameed from next month, Dawn reported.
"The prime minister has seen and approved the appointment of... Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum... as director general Inter-Services Intelligence, with effect from November 20, 2021, from the panel of officers at para 6 of the summary," a notification issued by the Pak PMO dated October 26 said.
According to the notification, the incumbent ISI director general, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, will continue to hold charge as the ISI chief till November 19, 2021, the report said.
The appointment comes after nearly three weeks of an alleged standoff between the Pakistan military and the government over the appointment of Pakistan's new spymaster. The army had announced on Oct 6 that the former ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, had been made the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his place, the report said.
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.
Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum, who was commissioned in service in September 1988, earlier headed Corps V in Karachi.
Gen Anjum 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.
After days of speculation on October 12, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said that the authority to appoint the ISI chief lay with the prime minister, and that the set procedure would be followed for the purpose.
"The legal procedure will be followed in the appointment of the new DG ISI, for which both [Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan] are in agreement," he had said, the report added.
