Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said the issue of appointment of the new chief of spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) would be resolved within a week, amid widespread speculation that Prime Minister Imran Khan and the powerful Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa were not on the same page over the key posting.
The issue of appointment of ISI director general has been in the news since last week after delay in the issuance of appointment notification of Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed Anjum.
The Interior Minister, however, was reluctant to give reasons for the delay.
The Army in a statement on October 6 announced Anjum replacing Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed , who was appointed as Peshawar Corps Commander, but the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) withheld the official notification. After initial silence on the issue, the government this week said PM Khan was not properly consulted while making the key appointment.
Earlier this week, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said the Prime Minister has the right to appoint the spy chief and that the consultation process was completed and the notification would be issued.
According to a report published in The Dawn newspaper on Friday, Sheikh Rashid told a private TV channel that the issue has been amicably settled between the civil and military leadership of the country and “now the appointment (of ISI chief) will take place before next Friday”.
When asked about the reasons for the delay, the Interior Minister said though he knows the reasons, he cannot make them public as only Prime Minister Khan could apprise the people of the matter.
Responding to a question, Sheikh Rashid rejected the claims that the delay was being made by the PMO due to some “spiritual and saintly” reasons. “It is totally absurd that the issue is being delayed intentionally due to divine intervention. It is illogical that someone is casting a spell,” he said.
The Minister said there were no differences between the civil and military leadership in the country and both sides were satisfied over what they had decided.
He also ruled out media reports and a statement by ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief whip in the National Assembly Amir Dogar that PM Khan wanted Lt. Gen. Faiz to stay in his office for some more time due to the critical situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Sheikh Rashid said the country’s spy agencies had defeated 42 intelligence agencies of various countries in Afghanistan. “They (military authorities) will not retreat from their own procedure,” he added.
Separately, Information Minister Chaudhry said the issue of appointment of new ISI director general would be resolved in a couple of days. However, he was reluctant to further comment on the matter, saying: “There was no significant development on the issue today (Friday).”
