Pakistan army chief names Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar as new ISI chief

Pakistan’s new army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday abruptly removed the head of the country’s spy agency ISI and made several other significant changes in the army’s top brass, as part of a major reshuffle.

Gen Bajwa, who took over from Gen Raheel Sharif two weeks ago, appointed Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar as director-genereal of the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), replacing Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, the army said in a statement.

According to the statement, the newly-promoted Lt Gen Bilal Akbar has been appointed Chief of General Staff while Lt Gen Nazir Butt – presently President of the NDU – has been appointed Corps Commander Peshawar (11 Corps), replacing Lt Gen Hidayat-ur Rehman, who was appointed Inspector-General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at General Headquarters (GHQ).