PM Imran Khan follows Army’s Diktat, Appoints Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as DG ISI

In a series of tweets by @PakPMO (Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan), PM Imran Khan announced that Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum has been appointed as the DG ISI. The appointment follows past few days of speculations of military coup and reports of Imran Khan trying to stand upto the Pakistan Army, but succumbed to the diktat of Army Chief finally.

Pakistan PMO tweeted, “Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan today. The meeting was part of the ongoing consultation process between the Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff about the timing of change of command in ISI and selection of the new DG ISI. During this process a list of officers was received from ministry of Defence. Prime Minister interviewed all the nominees. A final round of consultation was held between the Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff today. After this detailed consultative process, name of Lt..Gen. Nadeem Anjum was approved as new DG ISI. The designate DG ISI shall assume charge on 20th November, 2021.”

In a notification issued by PMO on 26 October, the appointment has been made official. It states, “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”. 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 incumbent DG ISI is the Corps Commander of Karachi based 5 Corps of Pakistan Army. As per Dawn, the appointment comes 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 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. 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.