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Pak PM Imran Khan clears appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as ISI chief
The formal announcement from the Pakistan prime minister’s office was issued on Tuesday evening
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday approved the appointment of lieutenant general Nadeem Ahmed Anjum as the new director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), nearly three weeks after the military announced a major reshuffle in its top brass. Lt Gen Anjum will take over the reins of the spy agency from November 20. Incumbent ISI chief Faiz Hameed will continue in his position till November 19, according to the notification issued by Imran Khan's office.
The formal announcement from the Pakistan prime minister’s office was issued on Tuesday evening but earlier in October Pakistan military's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations issued a notification announcing lieutenant general Anjum’s elevation as the chief of Pakistan's spy agency.
Earlier on Tuesday, before the notification was issued by the prime minister's office, lieutenant general Faiz Hameed, Pakistan army chief general Qamar Javed Bajwa and PM Imran Khan met at the ISI Secretariat, people familiar with the developments told Geo News.
Anjum belongs to the Punjab regiment of the Pakistan army and has also served as a commander of the Karachi corps. He has led several expeditions in Balochistan against elements which Pakistan perceives as a threat to the nation’s security. Lt Gen Anjum also held command postings in the eastern border of Pakistan i.e. the Line of Control (LoC). His subordinates often refer to him as the ‘man with glacier brain but sharp reflexes’, according to reports by Pakistani news agencies. A graduate of the Royal College of Defense Studies in the UK, Anjum also holds a degree from the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Honolulu.
The announcement made earlier by the Pakistan military's media wing led to speculations that there could be differences between the Imran Khan-led government and the country's army, which is influential when it comes to the nation’s security and foreign policy-related matters. Acknowledging that there were some "technical issues" between Imran Khan's office and the Pakistani army, the former earlier said that issues would soon be resolved, people familiar with the developments told Pakistani news agency Geo News.
