Pakistani army chief General Parvez Kayani is appointing a new head of military intelligence, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, the first major reshuffle in the military since President Pervez Musharraf quit the army.
Newspaper reported that Major-General Muhammad Asif, who served as Pakistan’s defence attach in Russia, is replacing Major-General Nadeem Ijaz as director general of Military Intelligence (MI).
Ijaz has worked as head of MI for more than three years, the normal length of service. MI and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) are the Pakistani military’s two main security agencies.
Military spokesmen were not immediately available for comments.
A month before his retirement from the army, Musharraf appointed Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj, a former head of MI and his former military secretary, as director-general of ISI.
“Obviously, as time goes by, he (Kayani) will be appointing people of his choice, those who are professionally sound and also enjoy his confidence,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst.
“At this time, these assignments are extremely vital for the reason that they are also facing internal insurgency as the greatest challenge,” he said.
Kayani has taken several steps to keep the military out of politics including ordering all officers out of posts in the civil service, and barring officers from meeting politicians