Asim Bajwa’s appointment not received well in India

ISLAMABAD: The appointment of retired Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa as SAPM for Information and Broadcasting to the Prime Minister in Pakistan has been received with unease in India. Indian establishment’s resentment has also been quoted by Indian media.

General Asim gave tough time to his Indian counterparts in his various assignments including the days of being DG ISPR and the Indian establishment does remember his capabilities and capacity to guard the national interests fully well.

A leading Indian group’s newspaper has reported that “Sources in the Indian establishment said contrary to the official line, the Pakistan Army’s hand is visible clearly in these changes. The appointment of Gen Bajwa, the former ISPR chief who also served as the chairman of the important China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority, shows the Pakistan Army’s focus on information projection, said the Indian sources.” Under a sub-title of the “ISPR connection,” the newspaper further writes that Bajwa had served as the Southern Command chief in the Pakistan Army before his retirement last year. He was the ISPR director general between 2012 and 2016.

His successor was Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, who was also replaced in January this year. The ISPR is a tri-service organisation, which serves as the propaganda department of the Pakistani Army, and is the key department responsible for information warfare, the report suggested.