Appointing DG ISI PM’s prerogative: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Imran Khan took the federal cabinet into confidence over the appointment of the new director general (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Tuesday.

He said the premier assured the cabinet members that all the relevant people “are on the same page” and that the appointment of DG ISI would be finalised soon “amicably”. The premier regretted attempts were made to give a wrong spin to the issue.

Briefing the media and replying to questions from reporters regarding the cabinet meeting here, he said that all legal and constitutional prerequisites would be fulfilled in the appointment of DG ISI, though he avoided elaborating the ‘legal and constitutional’ method for appointment. Fawad said: “A long meeting took place between PM Imran Khan and the army chief last night,” adding that the government shares “an ideal relationship with the military”. “The Prime Minister’s Office will not take any step that will tarnish the reputation of the army and the Sipah Salar [army chief], and neither will the army or its chief take any step to damage the civilian set-up,” he said.

The information minister said the prime minister and the army chief “share a good working relationship”, and both sides are on the same page regarding the appointment, though he underlined that the DG ISI’s appointment is the prerogative of the prime minister, but consultations are always held beforehand. “Appointments are made after due consultations, and we always fulfil all legal requirements [...] the new DG ISI’s appointment will also be made after fulfilling all the legal criteria,” he said.

Replying to the question whether the new DG ISI would be the same about whom an announcement was already made, the minister emphasised, “I have already said that all the constitutional and legal requirements will be fulfilled in this connection”. Chaudhry Fawad pointed out that the media did not senationalise the issue of DG ISI’s appointment and performed its duties with responsibility for which “I would like to commend them”. He said that the “biggest challenge for us is how to sift the wrong news from the real one and must first confirm anything appearing on the social media before reacting to it.”