Pakistan's new Inter-Services Intelligence chief, Lt Gen Zahir-ul-Islam, is the nephew of Indian National Army hero Shah Nawaz Khan and through him, shares a tenuous link with Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan.
Zahir-ul-Islam's appointment as the chief of the intelligence agency was the outcome of a consensus between the political and military leadership of Pakistan, says B Raman
New Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Zahir-ul-Islam's planned visit to Washington this week has been put off due to unspecified reasons against the backdrop of strains in the United States-Pakistan relations.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday chaired a meeting of Pakistan's top civil and military leadership ahead of the resumption of a trilateral initiative with Afghanistan and the US to boost the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
"I have read about the ISI chief's statement in the media but I don't think the intelligence agency has stopped monitoring the activities of our politicians," a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, who did not want to be named, said.
The new chiefs of the Inter Services Intelligence and Pakistan Air Force on Monday assumed office, a day ahead of a crucial parliamentary session that will determine the contours of future relations with the United States. Lieutenant General Zahir-ul-Islam went to the ISI headquarters at Aabpara Islamabad to take charge as the new director general of the powerful spy agency.
The strategy for the next week's US visit of Islam was finalised during a high-power meeting co-chaired on Wednesday by President Asif Ali Zardari and Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf, and attended by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Khalid Wynne, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the naval and air force chiefs.
Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives, Clinton said in a press conference on Wednesday
Hamza, who started off as a low-level operative with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, has today become one of India's biggest headaches. He threatens to battle Indian forces not only in the Kashmir Valley, but in other parts of India as well.
The meeting between Islam and Petraeus would be a "make or break" affair since it could determine future relations between various organisations in Pakistan and the US, including the General Headquarters and the Pentagon, The News daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
His disqualification to participate in future elections may follow, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
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