The Master and the Puppet?

At a time when relations between India and Pakistan have once again been pushed to the depths of hostility, prime minister Imran Khan will pick a new spymaster for his country – the ISI chief. India has dismissed peace overtures from Khan as double speak and launched a scathing attack on Islamabad at the recently held UN general assembly meet for promoting terrorism. India nearly shot down a Pakistan helicopter at the Line of Control carrying the prime minister of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The situation on the border is extremely tense with union home minister Rajnath Singh hinting that heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistan army in recent weeks. The army also foiled a major infiltration bid along the LoC. Amidst tensions, Rawalpindi corps commander lieutenant general Bilal Akbar visited various sectors on the LoC after the pounding by Indian forces

Meeting With Imran

Pakistan army chief general Qamar Javed Bajwa has held a meeting with Imran Khan to discuss names.

The Pakistan media is not sure if the term of current ISI chief will be extended. They have been given extensions in the past.

Just a month ago, Bajwa had changed one third of the corps commanders.

Keeping An Eye

The appointment of a new ISI chief is being closely watched in India as the changeover is taking place at a time when New Delhi expects more trouble and is preparing to raise the cost for Pakistan for any misadventure. Army chief general Bipin Rawat already made it clear that he is in favour of another surgical strike to teach Pakistan a lesson after recent provocations.

New Indian Army Commanders

Meanwhile, there are new core commanders on the home front. Lt. General Manoj Mukund Naravane is the new eastern command chief replacing Abhay Krishna who moves to central command. Mukund Narvane was heading the Shimla-based training command.

Lt. General PS Rajeshwar will be the new chief of integrated defence staff.
Lt. General PS Thimaiyya is the new head of training command.
The Pune-based Southern command has Lt. General SK Saini as the new chief.

Changes In The Indian Air Force

Eastern air command chief Anil Khosla to be the new vice chief.
New eastern air command chief will be Air Marshal R Nambiar who was deputy chief.
Air Marshal VR Chaudhuri will be new deputy air chief. Air Marshal H S Arora is the new chief of South Western air command

The C Wing of ISI

The external operations of ISI are carried out by the C wing of ISI which also deals with jehadis. New Delhi expects massive infiltrations across LoC as Pakistan is frustrated after repeated assaults by Indian army forces on its forward posts. India has

maintained pressure on the Pakistani side by heavy firing and paying it back after every border violation. The ISI is desperate to take advantage of the situation. New Delhi knows that Imran Khan is only a puppet whose strings are being pulled by the Pakistan army. India had also pulled out of talks after realising that Khan was speaking the language of the generals than being an independent political leader.

Pakistan Army Shake-Up

Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is going to make his first key army appointment by picking a general to head the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), the second most coveted post after the army chief.

Three generals were in line to lead ISI as the current chief, Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar, is retiring. These three generals were: Lt. General Nadeem Zaki Manj (his last posting was vice chief of general staff), Lt. General Asim Munir (last posting: director general military intelligence) and Lt. General Waseem Ashraf (last posting: Frontier Corps IG). The three were among the Major Generals promoted on September 28. The other three to be promoted are: Major General Shaheen Mazhar, Major General Abdul Aziz and Major General Adnan. The trend has been to pick as chief of the spy organisation an experienced general who has spent time in ISI.