Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik has been appointed as the Director General (DG) of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
According to Dawn News, Lieutenant General Malik will assume his new responsibilities on September 30. He is currently serving as the Adjutant General at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
Previously, Lieutenant General Malik commanded an infantry division in Balochistan and an infantry brigade in Waziristan. He has also received an honorary sword during his course.
Additionally, he has served as the Chief Instructor at the National Defence University (NDU) and as an instructor at the Command and Staff College in Quetta. Lieutenant General Malik is a graduate of Fort Leavenworth and the Royal College of Defence Studies.
It is noteworthy that the current DG ISI, Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, was appointed on October 6, 2021.
Lieutenant General Anjum, who was commissioned in 1988, has also served as the Corps Commander in Karachi and has led a brigade in Kurram Agency, along with commanding the Frontier Corps (FC) in Balochistan. Before becoming the Corps Commander in Karachi in December 2020, he was the Commandant of the Quetta Command and Staff College.
His appointment as DG ISI followed a reported three-week delay between the government and military leadership.
It is important to note that the previous Director General of ISI, Lieutenant General (Retd) Faiz Hamid, was appointed as the Corps Commander in Peshawar, after which Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum was designated as the new ISI chief.
However, the absence of an official notification from the Prime Minister’s Office regarding Lieutenant General Anjum’s appointment created ambiguity over the tensions between civil and military leadership.
Defense experts point out that the process for appointing the DG ISI is not specified in the Constitution or the Army Act. All previous appointments have been made based on traditions, where the Army Chief proposes three names to the Prime Minister, who then makes the final decision.
