Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, the Director General of Pakistan’s powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is likely to be replaced within the next few weeks, according to a report in The Nation.
The report claims that a security official, privy to the development, has confirmed the impending change of command and revealed that the preparations were underway for the changes.
Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar took over as ISI chief in November 2014.
The report says that intriguingly, he may be leaving the position earlier than the typical three-year tenure of an ISI DG.
The move to replace Lt Gen Akhtar comes after Indian Army claimed to have carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Quoting its sources, the report says that the corps commander of Karachi, Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, is most likely to replace Lt Gen Akhtar.
Another security official, who spoke to The Nation, was more circumspect about the timing of the change.
“It depends on whether the army chief, Gen Raheel Sharif, gets an extension or retires as announced. I don’t think the notification of other changes in military command will come before that. There are a lot of variables involved,” he said.
Gen Raheel Sharif’s tenure as Army chief is scheduled to end in November this year and he had announced earlier this year that he will not seek an extension.
However, Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, the chief military spokesman, denied that the intelligence chief was being replaced.
“No such thing,” Gen Bajwa was quoted as saying by The Nation.
