Pakistan has appointed Lieutenant-General Muhammad Asim Malik as the new head of the country’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.
Malik will succeed the outgoing ISI chief, Nadeem Anjum, on September 30, a senior security official
The appointment comes amid ongoing scrutiny over the agency’s purported involvement in manipulating the political landscape of the South Asian nation.
Although the military’s media wing has yet to comment on the high-profile transition, Pakistan’s state broadcaster provided a brief overview of Malik’s credentials.
Malik, who is currently serving as the adjutant general at the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, has an impressive academic background.
He is an alumnus of the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.
The ISI has been a focal point of heated debate in Pakistan’s media and political circles, particularly regarding its alleged interference in political matters.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently incarcerated, has accused Anjum of being instrumental, at the military’s behest, in his removal from office in 2022.
He claims that the agency orchestrated a no-confidence vote against him and later instigated a legal crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to thwart his political comeback.
Adding fuel to the controversy, several judges from federal and provincial courts recently addressed a letter to the Supreme Court’s chief justice, alleging undue pressure from the ISI to rule against Khan, ostensibly to ensure he remains behind bars.
Despite being imprisoned, Khan continues to be a dominant figure in Pakistan’s political landscape.
In a notable development, the military has arrested Faiz Hameed, Anjum’s predecessor, and subjected him to a court-martial on multiple charges.
These charges include allegations that Hameed, during his tenure as ISI chief, aided Khan in silencing political dissent. It is widely believed that Khan’s decision to retain Hameed as ISI chief in October 2021, against the wishes of the military hierarchy, set off a chain of events leading to his eventual ousting from power.
Both the military and successive governments have consistently denied claims of political interference or judicial coercion, assertions that many critics find unconvincing.
The military has wielded substantial influence over Pakistan since its independence in 1947, ruling the country directly for over 30 years.
Former prime ministers, including Khan, and various political factions maintain that the military continues to exert significant control over key national policy areas, especially foreign policy and security.
From his prison cell, Khan has repeatedly accused the current coalition government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of being a mere “puppet” of the military. He contends that the army, through the ISI, engineered massive electoral fraud during the February 8 parliamentary elections to prevent his party from securing a victory.
These allegations received a significant boost on Monday when the Supreme Court issued a detailed judgment in a case concerning election irregularities.
The majority opinion labeled several actions taken by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) before and after the polls as “unlawful,” asserting that they were designed to disadvantage PTI candidates.
The ruling stated that the commission had “failed to fulfill its role in the general elections of 2024” and emphasized that its actions had “significantly infringed upon the rights of the electorate and corroded their own institutional legitimacy.”
The disputed election results have exacerbated the political turmoil following Khan’s removal, further destabilizing an already precarious economic situation.
This political crisis has been compounded by a surge in militant activity, particularly in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, which share borders with Afghanistan.
The increased violence presents a daunting challenge for the military-backed Sharif administration, already grappling with economic instability.
Commenting on the situation, Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the U.S. and the United Nations, wrote in an article published in the Dawn newspaper that the current political landscape bears a striking resemblance to previous eras.
“All this has familiar echoes of the past — a government unwilling to engage with the opposition, jailing opposition leaders, trying to steamroll legislation, and a desperate opposition in constant protest mode against a backdrop of economic gloom, weak governance, and ubiquitous establishment pulling the strings from behind the scenes,” she observed.
The political dynamics in Pakistan remain fraught, with the incoming ISI chief facing a challenging landscape marked by contentious political strife and rising security threats.
