Major reshuffle in ISI, new chief appointed

PTI / Sep 30, 2008, 02:04 IST

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In a major reshuffle in the hierarchy of the Pakistan Army, Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha was appointed the new chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Major reshuffle in ISI, new chief appointed

ISLAMABAD: In a major reshuffle in the hierarchy of the Pakistan Army, Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha was on Monday appointed the new chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
Fourteen new appointments were made and several corps commanders were changed as part of the reshuffle by the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, Dawn News channel reported.
Pasha, who was serving as Director General of Military Operations in the General Headquarters, will replace Lt Gen Nadeem Taj a distant relative of former President Pervez Musharraf as Director General of the ISI.
Taj was transferred to head the Gujranwala-based 30 Corps. He was appointed as head of the ISI in September last year, shortly before Musharraf stepped down as army chief.

Taj was with Musharraf when the government of former premier Nawaz Sharif allegedly tried to prevent the aircraft carrying them back to Pakistan from Sri Lanka from landing in Karachi in October 1999. Shortly thereafter, Musharraf deposed Sharif and took power in a military coup.
The reshuffle in the army followed the promotion of seven major generals to the rank of lieutenant general earlier in the day. The officers who were promoted are Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Tahir Mahmood, Shahid Iqbal (all from the infantry), Tanvir Tahir (EME), Zahid Hussain (artillery), Mohammad Mustafa Khan and Ayaz Saleem Rana (armoured corps).

Lt Gen Mohammad Mustafa Khan was appointed Chief of General Staff and Lt Gen Shahid Iqbal the commander of the Karachi-based 5 Corps.
The reshuffle was widely anticipated in the wake of Musharraf's resignation as President last month as army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was expected to make changes in the force's hierarchy to bring in a new set of commanders.
Since taking over as chief, Kayani has distanced the army from politics to focus on combating militancy in Pakistan's restive tribal areas.
The US has stepped up pressure for reforms within the ISI after the agency was linked to the July 7 suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 58 people.

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