In a major reshuffle in the Pakistan army’s top brass, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has brought in a new head of the all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), changed four of the nine corps commanders and appointed a new Chief of General Staff (CGS), besides giving key postings to a few others.
The main theme of the shake up seems to be an assertion of greater direct control by General Kayani, since took over as the COAS in December 2007 when General Musharraf was forced to take off his uniform. The announcement of the changes, which were projected by a spokesman of the Pakistan Army as routine changes necessitated by the impending retirement of some senior officers, was made when President Asif Zardari had not yet returned from his visit to the US. The reshuffle is being seen by observers as highly significant as it comes against the backdrop of stepped-up US incursions inside Pakistan’s territory and the unusual statement by the Army Chief declaring that violation of the country’s sovereignty would not be allowed at any cost. The move came within hours of the promotion of seven major generals to the rank of three-star lieutenant generals, with a number of them becoming the direct beneficiary of the reshuffle.
Perhaps the most surprising of all such changes has been the appointment of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha (photo) as the new Director-General of the notorious ISI which has often been described by critics as a state within the state. Pasha, 56, had been the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), the nerve center for the Pakistani Army. Some Pakistani observers have pointed out that the ISI chief had been changed after the abortive attempt by the PPP government through a controversial notification in July 2008 to place the notorious intelligence agency under the administrative, financial and operational control of the Pakistani Interior Ministry. Lt Gen Pasha replaced Lt-Gen Nadeem Taj, a close associate of Musharraf, who has been appointed Commander of the 30 Corps in the Gujranwala district of Punjab.
Pasha, who was promoted from the rank of Brigadier to that of Maj. Gen. by General Musharraf in January, 2003, is due to retire on September 29, 2012. He has commanded an infantry brigade, a mechanised infantry brigade and an infantry division and has served as the Chief Instructor of the Command and Staff College. In 2001-2002, as a Brigadier, he served as a Contingent and Sector Commander with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. In October, 2007, Musharraf agreed to a request from Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, to relieve Pasha from the post of the DGMO so that he could be appointed as the Military Adviser, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in the United Nations headquarters, in place of General Per Arne Five of Norway. An announcement on his posting in the UN headquarters was also made by the office of the UN Secretary-General. But, this posting did not materialize.
In addition to Lt Gen Nadeem Taj’s removal as the spy agency’s chief, the two-star generals at ISI in charge of liaison with Islamist groups and with internal Pakistani politics, Maj Gen Asif Akhtar and Maj Gen Nusrat Naeem, have been superseded and denied promotion. However, both of them have been allowed to continue till their superannuation as Major Generals, but it is not known whether they will continue in the ISI or will be shifted out. Among other superseded Major Generals is Mohammad Saddique, who used to be in the National Accountability Bureau and was handling the corruption cases against Benazir Bhutto and Zardari. These changes mean Kayani and Pasha will install their own generals in the critical operations jobs.
A highly professional soldier in his own right, Lt-Gen Pasha has, for the past over two years, been overseeing the ongoing military operation against the Taliban linked militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). As the Director-General Military Operations, Pasha was directly responsible for the launching and execution of all the major military strikes in FATA and NWFP, the latest being the onslaught against religious extremists in the Bajaur tribal agency. Nonetheless, under Shuja Pasha, who was then Director-General of Military Operations, the Army had begun for the first time to provide counterinsurgency training to officers and troops headed off to fight in Taliban territory in the country’s West.
As a matter of fact, Shuja Pasha is well regarded at the Pentagon. Being the ISI chief, Pasha will be dealing directly with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) about Washington’s determination to stanch attacks by militants from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda into Afghanistan, and to inhibit the ability of the extremists to plot a major terrorist attack against the United States from the secrecy of the ungoverned tribal region. In August 2008, Pasha accompanied General Ashfaq Kayani to a secret, highly unusual meeting between top Pakistani military leaders and US commanders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. Pasha has assumed his new responsibilities at a time of mounting tension between the United States and Pakistan. In early September 2008, American Special Operations troops crossed from Afghanistan into Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal area on a raid against Qaeda operatives who provide much of the technical and strategic backup for the Taliban fighters. The American raid led to a tough public repudiation of Washington from Kayani as a breach of Pakistani sovereignty who had declared that Pakistan would defend its borders at all costs.
But Shuja Pasha is not the only beneficiary of the reshuffle carried out by General Ashfaq Kayani who, many believe, has put in place a new team to implement his vision for reviving the prestige of the armed forces and for enhancing the security of the state. Some of the other significant appointees are former Special Service Group (SSG) Commander Lt-Gen Tahir Mahmood, who has been given the most crucial 10 Corps in Rawalpindi; Lt-Gen Shahid Iqbal, who has been made commander of the 5 Corps in Karachi; and Lt. Gen Muhammad Yusuf, who has been given 31 Corps in Bahawalpur. Lt-Gen Mustafa has been appointed the Chief of General Staff and he will replace Lt-Gen Salahuddin Satti. The Corps Commanders of Rawalpindi, Karachi, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala have been changed. Lt General Tahir Mehmood has been appointed the Corps Commander of Rawalpindi. He replaces Lt-Gen Mohsin Kamal who has been appointed MS (military secretary) at General Headquarters (GHQ).
Lt-Gen Ahsan Azhar Hyat, Corps Commander Karachi, has been appointed Inspector General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) at the General Headquarters of the Pakistan army. Lt-Gen Raza Mohammad, Corps Commander Bahawalpur, has been appointed Director-General Joint Staff at JSHQ. Lt-Gen Muhammad Yousaf has been appointed Corps Commander Bahawalpur. Lt-Gen Mohammad Zaki, Director-General Infantry, has been appointed Inspector General Arms at the General Headquarters. Lt-Gen Javed Zia, Deputy Chief of General Staff, has been appointed QMG at GHQ. Lt-Gen Zahid Hussain has been appointed Adjutant General at GHQ. Lt-Gen Muhammad Mustafa has been appointed CGS at GHQ. Lt-Gen Tanvir Tahir has been appointed at IG Communication and IT at GHQ. Lt-Gen Ayyaz Salim Rana has been appointed Chairman Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT).
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* Lahore