Pakistan's ISI gets a new chief in Lt Gen Md Asim Malik: Who is he?

Gen Malik will succeed Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, who was appointed as DG ISI in 2021 by former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan

Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik has been appointed as the new director general (DG) of Pakistan's primary intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and will assume his duties on September 30, reported Pakistani publication Dawn on Monday.

The announcement of Malik's appointment as DG ISI was made by Pakistani state broadcaster PTV News on its official X account.

At present, Gen Malik serves as the adjutant general at the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, according to the statement.

Gen Malik will succeed Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, who was appointed as DG ISI in 2021 by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Gen Anjum, who began his service in September 1988, previously commanded Corps V in Karachi. He has led a brigade in Kurram Agency, commanded the Frontier Corps (North) in Balochistan, and served as commandant of the Command and Staff College in Quetta, before becoming Karachi corps commander in December 2020, according to Dawn.

In October 2021, then-Major General Asim Malik was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as the Pakistan Army's adjutant general, according to the report.

Throughout his military career, Gen Malik has served in the Balochistan infantry division and commanded an infantry brigade in Waziristan, according to PTV News.

The report noted that the new DG ISI had received an "honorary sword in his course".

Additionally, Gen Malik has served as the chief instructor at the National Defence University in Islamabad and as an instructor at the Command and Staff College in Quetta.

The military officer is a graduate of Fort Leavenworth in the United States and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, the statement added.

Gen Malik's appointment comes just over a month after former DG ISI Faiz Hameed was taken into military custody by Pakistani authorities in early August, and the process of his court martial was initiated in connection with a housing scheme scandal.

This was the first time in Pakistan's history that a court martial was initiated against a former intelligence chief.

Hameed, a retired three-star general of the Pakistan Army, served as the 24th DG of the ISI from 2019 till 2022.