Pakistan Army replaced its ISI head within 8 months with an ‘average’ officer close to chief Bajwa, whose hold in country’s politics grows by day.
he Pakistan Army’s strategic intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, got a new chief this week, Lt General Faiz Hameed, making the world wonder what has he done to deserve the position. Or what will now be the fate of one of the most talked about intelligence agencies in the world.
Lt Gen. Faiz Hameed, the new Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, has raised eyebrows not due to his appointment but because he replaced Lt Gen. Asim Munir, who was appointed just eight months ago. This creates an impression that Faiz Hameed brings more to his boss’s table than his immediate predecessor. The change has ensured for him the title of being ‘his master’s voice’ and the fact that this will have an impact on the politics inside the organisation for the short to medium term.
There were times during Pakistan’s life as a frontline state for the United States when every new army chief would make observers wonder if the new man in was religiously conservative or had liberal tendencies. Notwithstanding that such line of questioning was incorrect, it was inspired by the idea that the army chief during the 1980s, Zia-ul-Haq, had changed the mood of the army. Using Zia-ul-Haq as a cultural-organisational milestone diverted observers away from the reality that the army, like a good armed bureaucracy, may change its outlook depending on the top boss but would remain focused on its strategic goals.
Past & present, in Bajwa’s company
Lt Gen. Faiz Hameed’s relationship with Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa date back to the early to mid-2010s, when the former was a brigadier and posted as Chief of Staff at the Rawalpindi based 10th Corps where Bajwa was the field commander officer. Both Bajwa and Hameed belong to the Baluch regiment. Subsequently, Hameed was promoted as major general and sent to 16th infantry division at Pannu Aqil, which experts believe belie the fact that he was viewed by the army under Raheel Sharif as an average officer who was not given the better 12, 11, and 10 infantry divisions at the same station.
After completing the command of a division, which is one of the prerequisites of for promotion to the rank of a three-star appointment, Hameed was brought back to Rawalpindi. But Qamar Bajwa, who had taken over the command of the army by then, brought his own man to head the ‘C’ wing of the ISI responsible for counter-intelligence, which means a hand on the political pulse of Pakistan and on the organisational pulse of its army. Indeed, Hameed grew so powerful in that position that many viewed him as the main man running the ISI and not Lt Gen. Naveed Mukhtar, who served as the DG ISI from December 2016 to October 2018. However, Hameed couldn’t be made the head as he was still short of a third star, which he earned in April 2019 and was posted as the Adjutant-General. This is another powerful position within the GHQ hierarchy, especially in terms of contact with the army chief.
Global News 
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