Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday approved the appointment of Lt General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, the Corps Commander Karachi, as new director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), bringing an end to not just the uncertainty surrounding the sensitive matter but also apparent civil-military deadlock.
Although the prime minister finally picked the same general, who was named as new spymaster in October 6 press release of military's media wing, he has set a new precedent for the appointment of DG ISI in the future.
It was for the first time that the prime minister interviewed potential candidates before finalising the name of new spy chief sent by the Ministry of Defence.
Since 2000, it was only in 2012 when the announcement of new DG ISI came from the PM office and even that too was terse statement making no mention of either the interviews or consultations with the army chief. On all other occasions the announcement of ISI Chief was made by ISPR, military’s media wing.
In fact last two appointments during the current government also came from the ISPR. But only this time PM Imran objected to the past practice and insisted that he would make the final call, triggering an unprecedented standoff between the civil and military leadership who previously claimed to be on the same page.
The deadlock seemed to have broken after both sides reached a compromise. While the prime minister agreed to stick with the army chief's nominee for the coveted slot, the chief of army staff conceded that authority to appoint the DG ISI rested with the premier.
PM Imran also managed to prevail upon the army chief as far as interviewing the candidates for the ISI chief slot was concerned. It never happened in the past that any serving general was interviewed by the PM before being appointed DG ISI.
Prime Minister Imran also made clear he was the final authority to decide when the incumbent would relinquish the office and new one take over.
As per the October 6 official statement of the ISPR the new DG ISI was supposed to take charge immediately but the notification now issued by the PM Office stated that the incumbent would continue as country’s spymaster till November 20
A notification issued by the PM Office on Tuesday said: “The Prime Minister has seen and approved the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, HI (M) as Director General Inter-Services Intelligence, with effect from November 20, 2021”.
The notification added that the incumbent spymaster, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed “shall continue to hold charge as the Director General Inter-Services Intelligence till November 19, 2021”.
The development came after Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on PM Imran.
"The meeting was part of the ongoing consultation process between the Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff about the timing of change of command in ISI and selection of the new DG ISI," PM Office said in a statement.
During this process a list of officers was received from Ministry of Defence. The prime minister interviewed all the nominees. A final round of consultation was held between the prime minister and the army chief earlier today.
"After detailed consultative process, name of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum was approved as new DG ISI," the statement said adding that the designate DG ISI shall assume charge on November 20, 2021.
The ISI is a premier Intelligence agency of Pakistan tasked to deal with internal and external threats. Theoretically, its head reports to the prime minister.
The incoming DG ISI, as per the ISPR, was commissioned in the Light Anti-Tank Battalion of the Punjab Regiment. He has diversified experience of command, staff and instructional assignments, according to the ISPR.
He is a graduate of the Combined Arms Centre, UK; Staff College, Quetta, Advance Staff Course, UK, the NDU, Islamabad, the APCSS, USA and the Royal College of Defence Studies, UK. He holds a Master’s degree from the King’s College, London and the NDU Islamabad.
“General has vast experience of command in conventional as well as sub conventional threat environment,” read the ISPR statement. It added that he had been on command on both the western border and the LOC besides long service in Balochistan.
Gen Nadeem commanded an infantry brigade in South Waziristan agency, an infantry brigade in Kurram agency and Hangu during the Operation Zarb-e-Azb and he was IGFC Balochistan during the Operation Raddul Fasad.
He has been an instructor at the PMA, Staff College and the NDU. He has been commandant of the Staff College, Quetta. He has also been chief of staff of 5 Corps. His last assignment was Commander 5 Corps, Sindh. “General is keen runner and enjoys playing basketball and cricket,” the ISPR statement said.
The ISI is a premier Intelligence agency of Pakistan tasked to deal with internal and external threats. Theoretically, its head reports to the prime minister. The incoming ISI chief will have his hands full in dealing with multiple challenges particularly the Afghan situation and tensions with India.
Any shuffle in the Pakistan Army's top brass is usually the subject of intense discussion and speculation in political circles.
However, the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in early October had garnered a different sort of attention and raised questions about relations between the civil and military leadership.
The move came at a critical time for Pakistan as the country dealt with the Taliban's takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan and the precarious situation in the region.
Despite the passage of several days, the government did not issue an official notification for the ISI chief's appointment.
During this time, Prime Minister Imran Khan had told the federal cabinet that he wanted outgoing spymaster Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to continue for some time due to the critical situation in Afghanistan.
The whole situation raised several questions: who has the final say when it comes to appointing the DG ISI? Who does the ISI report to? Can the ISI chief be a civilian?
What is the process of appointing the ISI chief?
Analysts whom Dawn.com reached out to were all clear about one thing — there does not seem to be a concrete procedure for appointing the ISI chief, at least none in the public domain
Dawn's Resident Editor in Islamabad, Fahd Husain, said the closest we have come to knowledge of a proper procedure is PTI chief whip Amir Dogar's statement.
Speaking to media, Dogar had explained that a summary had to be sent to the prime minister with three names out of which he selected one probable whom he deemed fit for the office.
"There has been a conventional sort of understanding that because the ISI reports to the prime minister and was created by an executive order, that the premier has the authority to appoint the chief," Husain said
"The convention is that the chief of army staff (COAS) holds consultations with the prime minister regarding potential candidates for the post. He also suggests who is best suited for the job.
"Once there is a consensus between the two, the defence ministry sends a summary to the premier for the appointment of that person as the director general of the ISI," he said.
Author and political analyst Zahid Hussain told Dawn.com that while the power to transfer or post an official in the ISI lay with the army chief, the general practice has been that the intelligence chief is appointed by the prime minister because the institution reports to the PM.
Elaborating, Hussain said that while the PM decided who was to head the intelligence chief, it was the army chief's authority when to transfer and post an official.
"The decision to transfer Faiz was according to [precedent] but the prime minister's insistence on keeping Faiz as chief was not right."
According to the analysts, there is no restriction on a civilian being appointed to head the intelligence agency. However, there is no quota of how many civilians or armed forces personnel will be in the agency.
Zahid noted that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had appointed retired General Shamsur Rehman Kallu who was no longer a serving army official and thus considered to be a civilian.
Sajjad noted that hypothetically speaking, there was no bar on a civilian becoming the spymaster.
"There are civilian positions in the ISI hierarchy besides those held by serving military officials, but I'm not sure if a certain quota has been fixed for those jobs," he said
Speaking on a TV show, retired Air Marshal Shahzad Chaudhry said that the ISI is bound to follow the prime minister's directives.
"[But] the people working there are bound to follow the COAS. When the army chief posts out a brigadier or major general [...] while an intimation goes to the cabinet secretary, the prime minister's permission is not necessary.
"So the institution is [answerable to] the premier but the manpower — 30-40 per cent of it is permanent and some of it in rotation. Which is why tenures last for two to three years.
"So the ISI chief will serve for two to three years, undoubtedly at the pleasure of the prime minister of Pakistan." He said that three to four options will go to the premier and he will select one of the candidates.
When the tenure is about to end, the COAS will intimate the premier and a new panel of candidates will be sent, he said.
He added that it was not possible that the COAS or the posting authority had not spoken about the need for transferring the current DG ISI so that he can qualify for the next position.
"So there is a cycle, a process and questions have been raised about this process," he said, adding that there was a system within the military that determined what an officer should do within each rank.
"So an unnecessary 'storm in a teacup' has been raised," he said
Addressing a post-cabinet presser, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Oct 12 said that the legal procedure would be followed for appointing the new spymaster. But as is evident from the opinion of analysts, there is no set law in this case.
"Fawad said the legal process would be followed. But if it was clear what the legal process is, he would have mentioned it which means that it is not yet clear," Fahd said.
"Or we can conclude that a debate is being held on that legal process. We can also conclude [...] since he said the legal process would now be followed, was the legal process not followed previously?"
Sajjad added that the premier does not necessarily have a final say in the appointment. "However, his concurrence is needed for the appointment."
He added that he was not aware of any written statute delineating the procedure for the appointment of the ISI chief.
This is not the first time that a lack of set rules has led to ambiguity over the procedure of postings and appointments in the armed forces.
In August 2019, the prime minister had approved Gen Bajwa's extension as army chief nearly three months before he was due to retire — the second time in nearly a decade that the country's top general had their traditional term extended.
The matter had also been challenged in the apex court, which had temporarily allowed Gen Bajwa to stay on as the army chief, while directing parliament to legislate on the matter.
In January 2020, the parliament had passed three key bills seeking to empower the prime minister to reappoint and extend the tenures of the services chiefs and chairman, joint chiefs of staff committee, marking an end to the long and controversial tale.
Despite the many questions that remained, the information minister had said on October 13 that the process of consultation between PM Imran and COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa "had been completed", and that the process of a fresh appointment was under way.
According to Chaudhry, the "civil-military leadership has once again proven that all institutions are united for the country's stability, integrity and progress."
Fast-forward two weeks and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) issued a notification, confirming the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum. Minutes later, the PMO tweeted the "detailed consultative process" that had been adopted for the appointment.