A litmus test

The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is always in the headlines for various reasons. Very recently, former ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed was imprisoned on several allegations and is expected to remain in prison indefinitely. In these very columns, we had written about the controversial roles played by successive ISI chiefs, including blatant interference in the political affairs of the country. They have also been notorious for engineering cross-border terrorist activities and toppling democratically elected legitimate regimes.

Against this backdrop, the Pakistani military has recently announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Asim Malik as the new head of the country’s premier intelligence agency, the Directorate of ISI. Malik will assume his role on September 30. Before this appointment, he served as the Adjutant General (AG) at the army’s general headquarters, overseeing the military’s administrative affairs, including legal and disciplinary matters, for the past three years. Malik, a highly decorated officer who enjoys goodwill within Pakistan’s close-knit military community, has not been without controversy. Notably, the ISI chief is often regarded as the second-most powerful person in the military after the Chief of Army Staff — in a country where the military is the most powerful entity.

Malik (59) has no direct experience in intelligence-related postings but has commanded Infantry Divisions in Baluchistan and an Infantry Brigade in South Waziristan, areas that have been hotbeds of violence for nearly two decades. He has also served as an instructor at Pakistan’s National Defence University and the Command and Staff College in Quetta. Interestingly, Malik, a top-performing cadet during his training, is the son of Ghulam Muhammad Malik, who himself was a Lieutenant General in the 1990s and held important positions during his career. Asim Malik is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London and Fort Leavenworth in the United States, where he specialised in mountain warfare.

According to Al Jazeera, retired Lieutenant General Naeem Khalid Lodhi, who served with Malik’s father, describes the new ISI chief as a quiet yet highly respected officer. Even as AG, he did substantial work for the welfare of retired soldiers, particularly concerning pensions and other related issues. Malik is also credited with resolving concerns over delays in pensions and the medical treatment of veterans during his time as AG. He is well-known for his welfare measures for the troops. However, Malik’s tenure as AG also coincided with a crackdown on former Prime Minister Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, leading to the arrest of several party supporters and activists.

A former colleague of Malik, a retired general, says his appointment reflects the trust placed in him by General Asim Munir, the current army chief. Under normal circumstances, with his career trajectory, Malik would have been given command of a Corps. But with less than 20 months until his retirement, that looks improbable. His appointment to the ISI underscores the strong confidence Munir has in him. The colleague also acknowledged that the roles of AG and ISI chief come with inherent controversies and that, in many ways, Malik must now be willing to carry out the “dirty tricks” his new role may require.

It is worth recalling that, founded in 1948, the ISI is Pakistan’s equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the US, the British MI6, or India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). While the agency officially reports to the Prime Minister, the Army Chief recommends the appointment of its head.

Now that the new ISI Chief is in place, and so far, no major controversial issues are aligned with his name, it can be cautiously assumed that he will not interfere with domestic politics or intimidate politicians for military interests. Given his reputation as a soft-hearted Army man focused on the welfare of the force, it is also expected that his acceptability among the troops will be wider compared to his predecessors. However, security experts must watch for any moves to support home-grown terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in fomenting terror across the eastern border. Additionally, his challenge remains to contain the activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which often targets sensitive locations in Pakistan.

In addition to this, General Asim Malik may wish to revamp his all-powerful intelligence apparatus, which now seems to be in tatters. The ISI needs to be well-greased, as evidenced by the ongoing target killings and terror violence in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which are making infrastructure and other strategic locations highly vulnerable.

He also needs to introspect whether escalating terror acts in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, or fuelling Khalistani activities abroad, should remain a priority. He has a golden opportunity to redeem the ISI’s reputation, transforming it from a feared pariah into a professional intelligence outfit, both within and outside the country.

According to Hein G Kiessling, in his authoritative book on the ISI (page 10), the agency's involvement in Kashmir and Afghanistan from the beginning of the 1980s came under greater scrutiny, and it was soon portrayed in journalistic shorthand as a state within a state—an intelligence agency that was influencing and controlling Pakistan’s domestic and international politics. Reports proliferated that the ISI did not shy away from kidnapping and eliminating individuals it considered undesirable. General Asim Malik may wish to distance himself from such allegations to present a refurbished image.

The writer is a retired IPS officer, Adviser NatStrat, and a former National Security Advisor in Mauritius. Views expressed are personal