Chief of Pakistan’s powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) lieutenant-General Rizwan Akhtar may pay the price for not providing Intelligence inputs to political bosses about India’s surgical strikes across the line of Control (loC) on September 29.
According to media reports in Pakistan, Akhtar might be replaced within the next few weeks. Akhtar was appointed the Director-General of ISI in September 2014 and took office in November 2014, when he replaced the retiring lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam.
The appointment is normally for a three-year period, unless the ISI chief retires or is replaced by the Army chief. The ISI chief has come under severe criticism for not anticipating India’s surgical strikes after the Uri terror attack, especially when the India Army went on record saying it will avenge the death of its soldiers at the time and place of its choosing.
Incidentally, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif too is set to retire next month. The simultaneous departure of the Army chief and the ISI head could be a significant event in a country where these two institutions wield more power than the civilian authorities.
The Nation, citing a security official privy to the development, reported of the impending change of command and said preparations were underway for the changes. “Intriguingly, he may be leaving the position earlier than the typical three-year tenure of an ISI DG,” the report said.
The Corps Commander of Karachi, lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, is most likely to replace him, the official was quoted as saying. Another senior security official was quoted as saying that Akhtar -- who has already served in Karachi as Director-General, Sindh Rangers -- knows the challenges in Karachi and “the swapping makes sense”.
The official was, however, more circumspect about the timing of the change and said, “It depends on whether Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif gets an extension or retires as announced.”
“I don’t think the notification of other changes in military command will come before that,” he said. “There are a lot of variables involved.”
Raheel had announced earlier this year that he was not seeking an extension and would retire in November.
lieutenant-General Asim Bajwa, the chief military spokesman, however, denied that the Intelligence chief was being replaced. “No such thing,” Bajwa said when asked about it.
The paper also did not cite any reason why the ISI chief is being replaced.