DG ISI’s extension for purpose of ‘continuity’ of policy, Pakistani PM says

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Updated 10 November 2023
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DG ISI’s extension for purpose of ‘continuity’ of policy, Pakistani PM says

  • In interview to Arab News, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar says “nothing unusual and abnormal” about extensions 
  • DG ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum was appointed on Nov. 20, 2022 and was due to retire late this month

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has said the term of the head of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had been extended to preserve “continuity” of policy at a time the country faces increasing militant attacks.

This is the first time a Pakistani official has publicly commented on the extension of Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, director general of the ISI, who was due to retire late this month. The military has not yet announced Anjum's extension formally but there has been weeks-long speculation in Pakistani media that it had been granted.

The DG ISI is one of the most important positions in Pakistan, operating at the intersection of national politics and foreign relations. The agency oversees efforts to combat militants and is also feared by civilian politicians for its role in past military coups and managing political affairs.

The last DG ISI to get an extension was Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, whose tenure coincided with major anti-militant offensives in the country’s northwest.

The extension for Anjum also comes during a major uptick in militancy by groups such as Daesh, as well as Pakistan’s own indigenous Taliban movement, the TTP, which Islamabad says has been emboldened by the coming to power of the Afghan Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

“Try to understand the point on continuity [of policy]. Any system prefers and supports the idea of continuity,” Kakar told Arab News in an interview this week, when asked why Anjum was given an extension.

“You want to have a continuation of the process, and for you the continuation of that process is important so that idea or practice or brand gets entrenched,” the PM added, without disclosing specific details of the policies the government and military wanted Anjum to continue to implement.

“So, in that context at times in many institutions, you do feel, or the political dispensation feels, that some individual has to continue for any security benefit or otherwise, and they [the state] have got the discretion to do that [grant extension]. There’s nothing unusual and abnormal about it.”

Anjum was appointed DG ISI on November 20, 2022. Little over a week later, the TTP said it would no longer abide by a months-long cease-fire with the Pakistani government, urging its fighters to resume attacks against a continuous military campaign against them. Since then, the group has launched attacks on police compounds, security convoys and other military and civilian targets.

A report published by the Islamabad-based independent Center for Research and Security Studies in September said at least 700 security officials and militants had been killed in Pakistan in the first nine months of the year. Scores more have been killed since in attacks across the country.

And as campaigning steps up for general elections due in January, bombings across Pakistan have also stoked fears of violence at political rallies that can draw tens of thousands of people in the country of over 230 million.

Kakar told Arab News he did not want to link the rise in militancy to a possible delay in the election.

“They [militants] keep on changing their tactics, we have to respond accordingly,” the PM said. “So that’s why I’m saying that I’m not linking it [rise in attacks] or our government is not linking it with the electoral process.”

“LEVEL PLAYING FIELD”

 

 

Kakar, who runs a caretaker government constitutionally mandated to oversee general elections, also has other challenges, including widespread allegations of political persecution by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of now jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Political parties as well as independent analysts say Kakar’s government and the military establishment have a soft corner for the Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) of three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif. Both deny this.

Sharif, convicted on corruption charges in two cases after his ouster as prime minister in 2017, returned to Pakistan from self-exile on Oct. 21 to lead his party in elections.

Ahead of his return, Sharif got protective bail against arrest from a court, and has since secured bail in two corruption cases. In one of the cases, the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference in which Sharif was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2018, the former PM’s sentence was suspended by the caretaker administration in the Punjab province, which is widely considered to be close to the military establishment. The army denies it has any political affiliations.

The suspension of the sentence has led to widespread speculation that the way is being paved for Sharif’s return to power for a fourth time and a number of political parties, including the PTI and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of the Bhutto dynasty, have openly complained of the lack of what has popularly come to be called a “level playing field” — a euphemism for fair competition in elections.

“As we will be approaching to the electoral day, this kind of rhetoric would further increase and for very obvious, understandable reasons and that [is that] every political party wants to create a perception in my opinion with its voters and its support base that they are the victim of the administration and to attract that sympathy and translate to into vote support,” Kakar said, rebuffing accusations of unfair competition.

“I don’t see that there is a government policy of the caretaker to encourage or discourage one or other political group.”

Responding to allegations by the PTI of a widespread crackdown against the party, and by Khan that over 100 legal cases against him were politically motivated, the PM said all parties had the right to seek remedies through courts.

Khan, like Sharif, is also disqualified from the election because of an August graft conviction, which he has appealed.

“They should exhaust all the legal options if they are being legally barred from the electoral process,” the PM said.

When asked if he was prepared, as head of the caretaker government, to create a “level playing field” by suspending Khan’s sentence so he could contest elections, as the Punjab administration had done for Sharif, Kakar said:

“We will deliberate in that situation if [it arises] … If it comes to that, we will deliberate that what are the options and what needs to be done and we will decide accordingly.”


Pakistan says 96% of children vaccinated in ongoing anti-polio drive

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan says 96% of children vaccinated in ongoing anti-polio drive

  • Pakistan launched the campaign after 74 children were diagnosed with polio last year
  • Balochistan offered swings and camel rides in Quetta to draw children for vaccination

KARACHI: Polio vaccinations continued across Pakistan for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday, with 96% of targeted children receiving doses during the first five days of the campaign, the country’s National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said in a statement.

Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic, alongside neighboring Afghanistan.

Efforts to eliminate the disease have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on polio workers by militant groups.

In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted during these campaigns.

“During the first five days, 96% of children across the country have been administered polio drops,” the NEOC said at the start of the campaign’s sixth day.

“The vaccination campaign is underway simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” it continued, adding this was to curb cross-border transmission of the virus, especially in frontier regions where mobility between the two countries remains high.

According to Pakistani officials, the current vaccination drive aims to reach more than 45 million children nationwide. It is part of Pakistan’s intensified response following a sharp uptick in cases last year, when 74 children were diagnosed with the crippling virus.

Ten cases have been reported so far in 2025, prompting authorities to step up outreach and door-to-door campaigns.

According to the NEOC, provincial breakdowns so far show 97% coverage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 96% in both Punjab and Balochistan, 94% in Sindh, 98% in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 101% in Gilgit-Baltistan, where more children were reached than initially estimated.

Islamabad reported 97% coverage.

In Balochistan, the country’s most underdeveloped province that reported 27 cases last year, local authorities introduced recreational activities such as free swings and camel rides in Quetta to attract children and facilitate their vaccination.

The effort drew large crowds, allowing teams to immunize children while they took part in the festivities.

“This initiative is critically important as we enter the high-transmission season,” said Ziaur Rehman, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Polio Program. “It will play a key role in timely containment of the virus.”

He urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive polio drops to protect them from lifelong disability.


PM Sharif announces 25% federal development share for insurgency-hit Balochistan

Updated 31 May 2025
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PM Sharif announces 25% federal development share for insurgency-hit Balochistan

  • The prime minister calls for efforts to bring back ‘misguided’ individuals who have joined militant groups
  • He recognizes Balochistan’s history of economic deprivations but says ‘terrorists’ know nothing but brutality

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan will receive 25% share from the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the upcoming budget, as the government continues to grapple with a decades-long separatist insurgency that has surged in recent years.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, is strategically significant as the centerpiece of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major infrastructure development and regional connectivity initiative linking western China to the Arabian Sea.

While the state touts CPEC as a game-changer for the region’s development, Baloch separatist groups accuse the government of exploiting the province’s vast mineral resources without benefiting the local population. Officials reject the narrative, pointing to ongoing investments in various sectors aimed at improving livelihoods.

Sharif announced the allocation while addressing a grand jirga, an assembly of provincial elders and influential figures alongside top military leadership, in Quetta, where he reaffirmed the government’s commitment to Balochistan’s development.

“I think that PSDP will be of Rs1,000 billion [in the next budget],” he told the gathering. “So, out of this [amount], a fund of approximately Rs250 billion is for Balochistan alone. That is, 25% of the total federal PSDP for Balochistan.”

The PSDP is Pakistan’s central development program used to fund infrastructure, energy, education and other long-term public investment projects across the country.

It includes both federal initiatives and financial support for provincial projects, particularly in underdeveloped regions like Balochistan.

The prime minister said the allocation was the province’s “right.”

“Along with this,” he continued, “these resources should be used transparently, whether it is Gwadar, whether it is Pasni, whether it is Chaman, whether it is Killa Saifullah, whether it is Quetta, whether it is Jhal Magsi or any other areas,” he continued. “Every single penny there should be used honestly for the development and prosperity of the people.”

Addressing the challenge of militancy in the province, Sharif said efforts must continue to bring back “misguided” individuals who had joined militant groups.

He acknowledged Balochistan’s history of economic deprivation, while reiterating that those engaged in violence offer no solutions.

“Terrorists do not know anything but brutality,” he said.

Calling for national unity, Sharif maintained: “Let’s sit together and talk. It is only by sitting together that a family becomes strong and prosperous. No evil eye can harm a united household.”


Pakistan to set up maritime chamber to boost blue economy, promote greener ports

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan to set up maritime chamber to boost blue economy, promote greener ports

  • Maritime minister says new chamber will unite industry to drive sustainable growth and long-term economic resilience
  • Pakistan aims to grow its blue economy through sustainable use of ocean resources for jobs and ecosystem health

KARACHI: The Pakistan government on Saturday announced the creation of a new Maritime Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) to promote sustainable development in the country’s coastal and marine sectors, saying the initiative would help strengthen the country’s blue economy while addressing rising climate risks at its ports.

Addressing the Pakistan Business Council Forum, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry said Pakistan’s coastal zones were increasingly exposed to environmental challenges such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events and marine degradation.

The new chamber, he noted, would serve as a specialized platform for uniting stakeholders from across the maritime spectrum to pursue greener policies and long-term economic resilience.

“This chamber will not only support investment and innovation in the maritime sector but also prioritize sustainability at ports, promote green technologies and foster carbon reduction strategies,” he told the participants of the forum.

Pakistan is striving to strengthen blue economy by ensuring the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, jobs and ecosystem health.

This requires the authorities to enhance the potential of its ports, fisheries, logistics and marine services while reducing environmental harm.

The new chamber is expected to provide a unified institutional voice for sectors ranging from shipping to coastal tourism, helping to align business incentives with climate adaptation goals.

Pakistan has been pushing to modernize its port infrastructure and expand its role in regional trade by improving cargo handling, digitalizing port operations and encouraging public-private partnerships.

The country has also invited landlocked Central Asian states to use its ports to access global markets, aiming to position itself as a regional trade hub.

The Pakistan Business Council welcomed the announcement, calling the new chamber a critical step toward building a climate-resilient and economically vibrant maritime economy.


Pakistan PM says Indian bid to set ‘new norm’ thwarted, vows focus on economy and governance

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan PM says Indian bid to set ‘new norm’ thwarted, vows focus on economy and governance

  • Shehbaz Sharif tells military officials in Quetta India suffered setbacks on battlefield and in diplomatic realm
  • He reiterates that New Delhi will not be allowed to ‘weaponize water,’ calling IWT suspension a ‘red line’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday highlighted a range of security threats facing Pakistan days after a military standoff with India, saying New Delhi’s attempt to establish a “new norm” by targeting his country at will had been thwarted, though Pakistan must now focus on strengthening economy and governance.

The remarks came during a televised address to senior military officers at the Command and Staff College in Quetta, where the premier recounted the recent escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

The flare-up followed an April attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi blamed on a Pakistan. Islamabad denied the allegation and called for an impartial probe, but tensions rapidly escalated into four days of cross-border hostilities, ending after a US-brokered ceasefire on May 10.

“The threats we face are no longer limited to conventional battlefields,” Sharif said during his address. “They are multifaceted, ranging from kinetic warfare to cyberattacks, economic coercion to disinformation campaigns and hybrid threats that challenge both our borders and our ideological frontiers.”

“The recent Indian aggression against Pakistan, violating our territorial integrity and targeting our innocent civilians, was not merely countered successfully, but instead we succeeded in turning the tables on those who were dreaming of establishing a new norm,” he said.

Sharif added that Pakistan accepted the ceasefire offer “in the interest of peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia,” asserting that India’s claim of a new strategic precedent “was buried for all times to come by our brave armed forces.”

“In fact, it was Pakistan that established the new norm in its relations with India,” he said. “Henceforth, we will not allow her to behave in an arrogant and haughty manner.”

The prime minister said India had suffered “serious setbacks in both warfare and finest diplomacy” during the episode.

Turning to domestic matters, Sharif said while the military had fulfilled its responsibility, Pakistan still faced “major challenges in the field of economy and governance.”

He cited the dire financial situation when his administration took office, saying it compelled Pakistan to seek external assistance from lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, he maintained the economy had since stabilized and was now on a positive trajectory.

The prime minister also criticized India’s recent move to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a World Bank-brokered water-sharing agreement signed in 1960, reiterating it was unacceptable to his country.

“We will not allow India to weaponize water by holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance,” he said. “This is an absolute red line for us.”


Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem reigns supreme with javelin gold at Asian Athletics Championships

Updated 31 May 2025
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Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem reigns supreme with javelin gold at Asian Athletics Championships

  • India’s Sachin Yadav won silver with an 85.16m throw, while Japan’s Yuta Sakiyama took bronze by throwing 83.75m
  • Nadeem made history at 2024 Paris Olympics by winning Pakistan’s first athletics gold with a record throw of 92.97m

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem on Saturday won gold with a massive 86.4-meter throw in the men’s javelin final at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, Pakistani state media reported.

Nadeem is the first Pakistani in over 50 years to win a gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships. Pakistan’s Allah Daad last topped the podium in javelin throw and Muhammad Younis won the 800-meter event in 1973.

“Arshad Nadeem has once again made the nation proud by making a massive 86.40 meter throw and led the field in the men’s Javelin final at the Asian Athletics Championship in Gumi,” the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.

In Saturday’s event, India’s Sachin Yadav won silver with an 85.16m throw, while Japan’s Yuta Sakiyama took bronze with an 83.75m throw. Both threw their personal best.

Nadeem advanced to the final with a powerful throw of 86.34 meters on his first and only attempt in the A qualification round on Friday.

He made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics by winning Pakistan’s first-ever athletics gold with a record-breaking javelin throw of 92.97 meters. His throw not only set a new Olympic and Asian record but also ended Pakistan’s 32-year Olympic medal drought.

Nadeem has since become a national hero, inspiring millions with his journey from humble beginnings in smalltown Mian Channu to the top of the Olympic podium.