File Picture
Pakistan’s former spy master and senior-most Lt General Asim Munir was on Thursday appointed as the new Army chief by President Arif Alvi, ending intense speculation over the most powerful position in the coup-prone country, where the military wields considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy.
He will be the first army chief who has headed both powerful intelligence agencies – the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI). His stint as the spy chief at the ISI was the shortest ever as he was replaced by Lt Gen Faiz Hamid within eight months on the insistence of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2019.
Lt Gen Munir would replace Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retires on November 29 after two consecutive three-year terms.
