Syed Asim Munir | The spymaster-turned-Army chief 

The Lieutenant-General, who, as ISI chief, fell out with then Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been picked by the Shehbaz Sharif government to be the next Chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan

Lieutenant-General Syed Asim Munir was the shortest serving head of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s infamous spy agency. He was appointed the ISI head in October 2018 by the Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. But eight months later, he was replaced with Lt.Gen. Faiz Hamid on the insistence of then Prime Minister Imran Khan. The cricketer-turned-politician, who came to power a few months earlier, was still enjoying warm ties with the military establishment, which could not overlook his wishes. While there was no official word on why the ISI chief was fired, an alleged audio clip of Aleem Khan, a former leader of Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), surfaced earlier this year in which he accused the former Prime Minister of sacking Lt.Gen. Munir for exposing corruption of his wife, Bushra Bibi.

In three years, the tables have turned. Mr. Khan, who fell out with the military, was ousted from power in April through a no-confidence vote. As he is trying to make a comeback through political mobilisation across the country, Lt.Gen. Munir has been appointed the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), arguably the most powerful position in Pakistan.

It was hardly a secret that Mr. Khan’s PTI was steadfastly opposed to Lt.Gen. Munir’s appointment. But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his brother and former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif (who is in exile in London), had their way in picking the successor of Gen. Bajwa, who would retire on November 29 after six years at the top. “We hope that the new leadership of the armed forces of Pakistan will play its constitutional role... and stay out of the politics of domestic affairs...,” Mr. Khan’s party said in a statement about Lt.Gen. Munir’s appointment, without congratulating the next COAS.

Little is known about what Lt.Gen. Munir thinks of the critical challenges Pakistan is facing — from civil military relations to tackling ties with India, managing Afghanistan and balancing between the U.S. and China. All these years, he has kept a low profile, avoiding public comments and controversies. But he has held several key posts in the military, an indication that the top brass has been grooming him for leadership roles. He entered the service through the Officers Training School programme in Mangla, where he won the prestigious Sword of Honour, an honorary sword given to best performing cadets. He started his military career as a Second Lieutenant in 1986 when the military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq was ruling Pakistan.

As a Brigadier, he commanded the Pakistani troops in the Northern Areas, which includes Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, under Gen. Bajwa. After Gen. Bajwa became the Army chief in November 2016, Lt.Gen. Munir rose through the ranks quickly. He was appointed the Military Intelligence Director-General in 2017 and became a (three-star) Lieutenant-General in September 2018. In the same year, Gen. Bajwa promoted him as the ISI Director-General, but his fallout with Mr. Khan cost him the job. However, Lt.Gen. Munir survived Mr. Khan’s ire. He was posted as Gujranwala Corps Commander for two years and then moved to the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi as a Quartermaster General, in charge of supplies.

Among the names that did the rounds for the COAS, which also included Lt.Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Lt.Gen. Azhar Abbas, Lt.Gen. Nauman Mehmood and Lt.Gen. Faiz Hamid (who was said to be Mr. Khan’s favourite), Lt.Gen. Munir was the senior most. His four-year term as a Lt.Gen. was to end on November 27 (Sunday). But two days later, he would become a four-star General, beginning a three-year term as the COAS.

Pakistani media term him a “devout”, “clear-headed” soldier committed to protecting the interests of the military and the state. There were instances of Lt.Gen. Munir acting swiftly to protect the military and the ISI from public criticism. In July 2018, Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui criticised the ISI, saying the agency was manipulating judicial proceedings to get favourable decisions. Justice Siddiqui was sacked in October that year by President Arif Alvi on a recommendation from the Supreme Judicial Council for misconduct, a few days after Lt.Gen. Munir became the ISI chief. Political analyst and author Shuja Nawaz writes in his book, The Battle for Pakistan, that the Supreme Court’s decision was an example of Lt.Gen. Munir’s “overreach”. Mr. Nawaz writes that Lt.Gen. Munir has the “reputation of a hardliner” and “a tough officer rooted in Islamic tradition”. Lt.Gen. Munir is also called a Hafiz-e-Quran, who memorised the holy book during his posting in Saudi Arabia as a Lieutenant-Colonel.