US pressure behind Pak army shake-up

New Delhi, October 5: In India’s assessment, the shake-up in Pakistan’s top military brass, particularly the ISI, is clearly aimed at changing the approach of operations in the North-West Frontier Province and the area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border under US pressure. However, sources said, there is no likelihood of any change in ISI’s Kashmir policy.

The US and other NATO countries have been deeply suspicious of the ISI role and their links with Taliban commanders. On this count, India too has been in conversation with US to somehow check ISI influence after the attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul. These factors have weighed heavily on Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who has sought to handpick officers for key positions.

The new ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is a Pashtun and in his previous assignment as Director General of Military Operations was in-charge of planning and executing military operations in NWFP, Swat and FATA areas. During Pervez Musharraf’s tenure, he was instrumental in trying to broker a deal with various tribal groups which did not work as conceived.

In fact, he himself is from the Frontier Force and has a good four years left in service. As DG ISI, he will now be the nodal person for the CIA that has held serious doubts about the ISI’s “dubious” role. With the Pakistan Army still reluctant to move in ground troops in large numbers, Pasha will be crucial to US and NATO assaults in that area.

The other significant change is Maj Gen Muhammad Zahirul Islam who moves in as number two in the hierarchy. Commissioned into the Punjab Regiment in 1977, he is now DDG (A) in the ISI and will be in-charge of counter intelligence. He is said to be handpicked by Kayani and will have the onerous task of keeping a watch on his colleagues besides monitoring key operations.

From an Indian point of view, an important change outside the ISI is Lt Gen Tahir Mehmood moving in as Commander 10 Corps in Rawalpindi which is responsible for areas opposite Jammu and Kashmir, including the Gilgit region. He had played an important role in the planning of the Kargil operation and his appointment, sources said, strongly indicates a continuum in the Army’s Kashmir policy.

Similarly in the ISI, Maj Gen Ghulam Mustafa Kausar, the DDG looking after Kashmir affairs is untouched by the change. He is an officer from the Azad Kashmir regiment and was earlier GOC of Lahore-based 10 Infantry Division but has been in the ISI for last few years.

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