A notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Tuesday said that Gen Malik would retain his role as DG ISI, a position he has held since September 2024.
“Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik HI(M), DG (I), shall hold the additional charge of the National Security Adviser, with immediate effect,” the notification stated.
His appointment marks the first time a serving ISI chief will concurrently serve as the NSA.
The NSA position had remained vacant since April 2022, when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government was ousted.
Syed Asim Munir[1][3] NI(M) (Urdu: سید عاصم منیر)[1] is a Pakistani army general and the current Chief of Army Staff since 29 November 2022.[4] Prior to becoming the army chief, he was posted at the GHQ as Quartermaster general.[5] He commanded the XXX Corps in Gujranwala from 17 June 2019 to 6 October 2021.[6] He served as the 23rd Director-General of the ISI until he was replaced by lieutenant general Faiz Hameed on 16 June 2019.
On Thursday morning, according to a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan conducted what it called an “intelligence-based operation” against hideouts of armed groups in the Sistan-Baluchestan province of Iran.
Iranian state television said at least nine people were killed in the attacks.
Prior to becoming army chief he was posted at the GHQ as Quartermaster general.[3] He commanded the XXX Corps in Gujranwala from 17 June 2019 to 6 October 2021.[4] He served as the 23rd Director-General of the ISI until he was replaced with Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed on 16 June 2019.
(10 Aug 2023)
Khan was sacked from power in April 2022 after he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament. He alleged he knew of the “cypher” while he was in office which, according to him, proved the US hatched a conspiracy with the help of his political opponents and the Pakistani military to remove him.
He later made a U-turn, saying he wants good relations with the US, but continued to blame his successor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the military for orchestrating his removal.
(09.08.2023)
One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.
The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.
(October 01, 2023)
During a press conference held in Quetta, the minister lauded the Chief of Army Staff‘s (COAS) dedication to the fight against terror and emphasised the joint efforts of provincial and federal governments in countering extremism and terrorism. (…)
Echoing the sentiments of Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, Achakzai asserted that the Indian intelligence agency RAW was responsible for the unrest and terrorist acts in Balochistan. “Such elements would not be spared at any costs”, he concluded.
As Haaretz has reported on numerous occasions, Cellebrite’s clients have included oppressive regimes that were or still are subject to sanctions, including Belarus, China (including Hong Kong), Uganda, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, Russia and Ethiopia, as well as Bangladesh’s notorious Rapid Action Battalion.
The security forces in Pakistan are known to commit serious violations of human rights and freedom of expression.
(Jun 1, 2023)
In the law of jungle, might is right and the weak have no protection.
(03.06.2023)
Several analysts, as well as PTI members, say the army chief is now trying to break his party before arresting him and putting him on trial in a military court.
(May 15, 2023)
The rift goes back to when Khan was the prime minister and General Munir was the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – Pakistan’s spy agency.
Munir, who was appointed by the then Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in October 2018 had the shortest stint as the ISI head.
Eight months after taking over as the spymaster, he was replaced by Lieutenant-General Faiz Hamid.
As per reports, this was done at the insistence of the then-Pakistan prime minister Khan.
(June 03, 2023)
LAHORE: In an interesting turn of events, a trial court on Saturday discharged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Yasmin Rashid along with 23 others, accused of vandalising the Corps Commander House (Jinnah House) in Lahore on May 9 and ordered authorities to set her free.
Separately, a court in Gujranwala also acquitted former Punjab chief minister and PTI President Parvez Elahi in two separate corruption cases. However, Punjab’s anti-corruption watchdog re-arrested Elahi soon after his release in a fresh case involving “illegal appointments”.
(12 Jun 2022)
Before ousting the former prime minister, Imran Khan, in a no-confidence vote in April, opposition parties now in power had criticised the military for its meddling in politics, rigging elections and bringing Khan into office.
Ayesha Siddiqa, an author and expert on military affairs of Pakistan, said it was depressing that none of the senior leadership of the major political parties had condemned Sharif’s move.
(05th June 2022)
PML-N former information minister Pervaiz Rashid also questioned the move in a tweet, saying if the task of investigating civilian officers was included in ISI‘s responsibilities, then the spy agency should also be placed under civilian control and be accountable to the parliament.
(May 11, 2023)
Unrest has spread across multiple major cities, resulting in unprecedented scenes of defiant crowds breaking into military properties and setting the homes of army personnel ablaze, directly challenging a usually untouchable force that has long sat at the apex of power in Pakistan.
Since it won independence in 1947, Pakistan has struggled with political instability, regime changes and coups with the military having a historically decisive role in who stays in power.
I completely agree with those who say the protest should be peaceful, but if people are denied their constitutional right to protest, they will protest unconstitutionally. You cannot control an enraged mob that has been oppressed for the past 75 years. 2/
Regrettably, this fascist government banned internet and social media sites in order to conceal their incompetence and failed governance, as well as the lack of trust placed in them by the people of Pakistan. As a result, thousands of daily bettors are out of work. 3/
I am hoping that Pakistan‘s stakeholders will come together and accept the legal and constitutional demand for elections. Release all innocent people and reverse all fake cases so that a strong political government can take over Pakistan and avoid economic default.
(May 9, 2023)
Mr. Khan and his supporters deny the charges, characterizing them as a misuse of the justice system by the government, led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and the military to keep him out of politics. Political and military leaders deny those claims.
The tensions surrounding Mr. Khan broke into violence in November, when he was wounded during a rally after an unidentified man opened fire on his convoy, in what aides have called an assassination attempt. In recent months, Mr. Khan has accused a senior intelligence official of playing a role in that shooting.
(May 8, 2023)
1. Have I, a citizen, the right to nominate those I feel were responsible for assassination attacks on me? Why was I denied my legal & Constitutional right..
..to register an FIR? Does SS tweet mean mly officers are above the law or that they cannot commit a crime? If we allege one of them has committed a crime, how is institution being maligned?
3. Who was so powerful as to sabotage Wazirabad JIT while PTI govt was in power in Punjab?
(May 07, 2023)
Arshad Sharif, who was critical of the Army, was killed in Kenya last October as he fled the country citing threats to his life from the security agencies.
The killing of the investigative journalist by police in Kenya caused outrage in Pakistan.
Kenya‘s police, in an initial report, had said the 49-year-old was shot dead in a moving vehicle in a case of mistaken identity.
Khan, 71, had earlier accused Gen Naseer along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of an assassination attempt on his life in November last year in Punjab province‘s Wazirabad wherein he received three bullets in his leg.
(April 8, 2022)
Pakistan’s military has outsized power for a country conceived as a democracy. There have been three successful military coups. When Khan became prime minister, it was only the second time since Pakistan achieved independence in 1947 that a civilian administration had transferred power to another. Even when elected governments have ruled, the military, especially the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, has played a forceful role.
(…)
Khan, who has been critical of the U.S. while seeking better relations with Russia and China, has said he would continue to pursue an “independent” foreign policy. His opponents have vowed to improve ties with the U.S. and Europe if they win.
According to BBC Urdu, “two uninvited guests” reached the Prime Minister’s House, which was blanketed in extraordinary security, by helicopter on Saturday night and met Khan in private for about 15 minutes. An hour before this meeting, Khan had ordered the removal of a senior official who was at the meeting, the report said.
However, an official notification was not issued by the defence ministry for dismissing this senior official and appointing his successor, “thus thwarting the Prime Minister’s House’s attempt at a ‘revolutionary’ change”, the report said
Amid reports of intense fighting in the Panjshir, Pakistan‘s powerful intelligence chief made a surprise visit to Kabul on Saturday.
Hameed arrived in Kabul Saturday morning, leading a delegation of „senior Pakistani officials“, to discuss security, economic and trade issues, according to Pakistani media reports.
„Former Pakistan officials are publicly cheering for Taliban.
But a collapse in Afghanistan would carry risks for Pakistan, too, including a possible wave of refugees, and a boost to jihadist movements that target Pakistan’s government for attack.“ 2/2
(24.08.2021)
Pakistan‘s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf and ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed are likely to visit the US next week for talks with their American counterparts on the situation in Afghanistan as part of Washington‘s diplomatic efforts aimed at ensuring a peaceful transfer of power in the war-torn nation, according to a media report.
The Taliban were largely founded by Pakistan‘s Interior Ministry under Naseerullah Babar and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1994.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] In 1999, Naseerullah Babar who was the minister of the interior under Bhutto during the Taliban‘s ascent to power admitted, „we created the Taliban“.[33]
William Maley, Professor at the Australian National University and Director of the Asia-Pacific College, writes on the emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan:
„In 1994, with the failure of [Gulbuddin Hekmatyar‘s alliance] attempt to oust [the Afghan] Rabbani [administration], Pakistan found itself in an awkward position. Hekmatyar had proved incapable of seizing and controlling defended territory: in this respect he was a bitter disappointment to his patrons. … In October 1994, [Pakistani interior minister] Babar [took] a group of Western ambassadors (including the US Ambassador to Pakistan John C. Monjo) to Kandahar, without even bothering to inform the Kabul government, even though it manned an embassy in Islamabad. … On 29 October 1994, a convoy of trucks, including a notorious ISI officer, Sultan Amir … and two figures who were later to become prominent Taliban leaders, entered Afghanistan.“[22]