Pakistan ISI Chief Nadeem Anjum’s Tenure Extended, to Remain Spymaster for Another Year

Pakistan spy chief Nadeem Anjum’s tenure has been extended and he is set to remain as the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan (DG-ISI) for one more year, people familiar with the developments told CNN-News18.

The people mentioned above said that the Pakistan government decided to extend the tenure of the spy chief by one more year. The decision to extend the tenure comes shortly after Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Asim Munir, held an important meeting with top businessmen in Karachi.

The aforementioned people also said there is a comfortable equation between Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir and DG ISI Nadeem Anjum. They also said that former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif, is also comfortable with the move.

Anjum replaced General Faiz Hameed who was known to be close to Imran Khan. It should be noted that Imran Khan and COAS Asim Munir did not share warm ties.

Nadeem Anjum’s tenure was supposed to end this week.

During the weekend unverified reports emerged that Lieutenant General Shahid Imtiaz will be appointed as new ISI but people familiar with the developments termed those reports as rumours.

The Pakistan spy chief is a graduate of the National Defense University (NDU) and has received a master’s degree from King’s College London. He has also completed the Advanced Security Studies courses at the US Department of Defense-run Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS).

General Akhter Abdul Rehman Khan and Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha were former DG-ISIs whose tenures were extended on national security grounds, making Anjum the third ISI chief to have his tenure extended.

The reappointment of Anjum comes at a time when Pakistan is facing serious internal threats. There is an economic as well as political instability coupled with a fresh wave of terror attacks spearheaded by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The issue of delayed elections is also pushing Pakistan into a state of political uncertainty.