Pakistan appoints Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar as next ISI chief

Pakistan has promoted Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar as the next chief of Director General Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).

Rawalpindi: Pakistan has promoted Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar as the next chief of Director General Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).

Considered close to Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Raheel Sharif, Lt Gen Akhtar will take over his new assignment on October 1 from Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam.

The announcement was made by Director General Inter Services Public Relations Major Asim Bajwa on Twitter on Monday.

Currently, Akhtar is the Director General of the paramilitary Rangers in Sindh province.

An experienced hand in counterinsurgency – he has served in South Waziristan – Akhtar pipped another strong contender Maj Gen Naveed Mukhtar to the post.

The post of ISI chief is considered to the second most important post after that of COAS in Pakistan Army hierarchy.

The announcement comes at a time when Akhtar is leading the operation against terrorists in Karachi.

Five other major generals were also promoted to the position of lieutenant generals: Naveed Mukhta, Ghaiyoor Mehmood, Hilal Hussain, Nazeer Butt, and Hidayat Rehman.

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