Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
December 12, 2016
Pakistan has named a new head of its military Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
The Pakistani military said in a statement on December 11 that Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar was appointed as director-general of the ISI, replacing Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar.
The move comes two weeks after the chief of the army’s staff was replaced.
Mukhtar previously served as commander of the V Corps in the port city of Karachi for the past two years. He also previously served as the ISI’s counterterrorism wing.
Akhtar will become president of the National Defense University, the military said in the statement.
Both the military and the ISI are very powerful in Pakistan, with the army having ruled the country for almost half the time since it gained independence in 1947.
The ISI has been accused of backing Islamist militants in neighboring Afghanistan and India, charges that it denies.
Mukhtar is a graduate of the National Defense University in Islamabad and the United States Army War College in Pennsylvania.
Based on reporting by Reuters, The Nation, and Financial Express
Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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