Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has made a major reshuffle in the top brass.

Karachi Corps Commander Lt General Naveed Mukhtar has been made the new director general (DG) of the top intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

ISI DG Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa have also been given new responsibilities.

The development comes two weeks after Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa took over as Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

New CGS Lt General Bilal Akbar comes with a vast experience of dealing with internal security matters. His transfer of indicates the new COAS would like to give priority to internal security.

Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar presently serving as DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been appointed president National Defence University (NDU). Lt Gen Nazir Butt, currently President NDU has been appointed Corps Commander Peshawar (11Corps). Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman, currently serving as Corps Comd Peshawar has been appointed Inspector General (IG) Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at GHQ.

Similarly, Lt Gen Asim Salim Bajwa, presently serving as director general (DG) ISPR has been appointed inspector general arms at GHQ. He was posted the ISPR DG in June 2012 and promoted to lieutenant general in September 2015.

Newly promoted Lt Gen Hamayun Aziz has been appointed Inspector General C&IT at GHQ, while Lt Gen Qazi Ikram has been appointed Chief of Logistic Staff at GHQ. He was also among those promoted recently.

Newly promoted Lt Gen Sher Afgan has been posted 31 corps commander (Bahawalpur). Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal will continue as the DG FWO. He was also recently promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Newly promoted Lt Gen Naeem Ashraf has been appointed Chairman Heavy Industries Taxila.

Asim Bajwa was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general from major general in September 2015. He was appointed as the ISPR DG in 2012 by then COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani.

Prior to his posting as the DG ISPR, Bajwa was posted in Dera Ismail Khan as a general officer commanding. Under his leadership, the army conducted military operations in the South Waziristan tribal region to eliminate militancy and restore peace.

General Rizwan Akhtar is a graduate of the Command and Staff College in Quetta, National Defence University and the Army War College, US. Rizwan was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in Frontier Force Regiment in September 1982. He is from the Frontier Force Regiment and commanded the infantry brigade and infantry division in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Previously as Sindh DG Rangers, Major General Rizwan Akhtar had been assigned with the task to lead the Karachi operation. But the military had replaced him as DG Rangers Sindh with another senior military officer.

Akhtar is also considered to have extensive experience of counterinsurgency from a previous posting in the border region of South Waziristan.

Lt General Naveed Mukhtar was commissioned in the Armoured Corps regiment in 1983. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College Quetta, National Defense University Islamabad and War Course US. He had commanded a Mechanised Division.

Till Dec 7, he had been serving as corps commander of Karachi. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and posted to the army’s Corps V in Sept 2014.

Lt Gen Mukhtar possesses a vast experience in the field of intelligence. He had also headed the counterterrorism wing of the ISI in Islamabad.