Factional conflicts in Army continue to roil Pakistan after Imran Khan's ouster

The recent shift in the national politics of Pakistan was widely reported as triggered by power play between Imran Khan and leading figures in the country's powerful military establishment -- Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the former head of intelligence services (ISI) Lt General Faiz Hameed.

Hameed, who was widely expected to replace Bajwa, got replaced in October by Lt General Nadeem Ahmad Anjum against Imran Khan's wishes. Last month, Khan became the first Prime Minister in Pakistan's history to be ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in the country's Parliament.

Khan was later charged with blasphemy on April 28 after his supporters allegedly hounded the new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Saudi Arabia's Madina on the same day.

The power struggles are continuing among the opposing factions in Pakistan's establishment.

After Khan's ouster, Lt General Anjum has ordered his top men to launch an investigation of officials belonging to Lt General Hameed's clique which includes officials and leaders in ISI's secret Kashmir Desk, reported The Epoch Times, a US-based media.

Last year, reports had surfaced of an alleged standoff between the military and the government over the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Dawn newspaper reported.

The army had announced on October 6, 2021 that the former ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, had been appointed the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Anjum was appointed in his place. But the country's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had not issued an official notification of Lt Gen Anjum's appointment until three weeks later, leading to frenzied speculation of strains in civil-military relations, the Pakistani newspaper reported.

After delays, Pakistan's PMO had eventually notified the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief on October 26.

According to experts in defence matters, the procedure for appointment of the ISI director general is neither mentioned in the Constitution nor the Army Act, and all previous appointments were made as per traditions under which the army chief proposes three names to the Prime Minister who then makes the final decision, Dawn newspaper reported. Imran Khan, who was elected as the Prime Minister in 2018, was ousted through the no-trust motion by the opposition alliance last month. (ANI)