Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha (Urdu: احمد شجاع پاشا), HI(M) (born 18 March 1952) is the current Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence service since October 2008. He was due to reach the age of superannuation on 18 March 2010, but has received two extensions. His tenure was extended by a year and then again by another two years, until 18 March 2013. He was recently named as one of the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.
Army Career
Pasha was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the famed Frontier Force Regiment in the 49th PMA Long Course in 1974. He has commanded an infantry battalion, a mechanized infantry brigade and has served as the Chief Instructor of the Command and Staff College of the Pakistani Army. From 2001 to 2002, General Pasha served as a Contingent and Sector Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
Pasha was promoted to Major General in January 2003, and posted as GOC 8th Infantry Division in Sialkot. From there in April 2005, he was sent as Commandant Command and Staff College in Quetta. From April 2006 to October 2008, Pasha served as the Director General of Military Operations at the Army headquarters overseeing all military engagements in Waziristan, Swat and other tribal areas.
In October 2007, Pasha was selected as Military Adviser to Secretary-General of United Nations however due to his commitments as DGMO he never joined the UN.
ISI appointment
The newly elected civilian government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani tried for two months to gain control of the appointment for the director of the ISI as well as place the agency under the administrative, financial, and operational control of the Interior Ministry. However, the attempt failed when Chief of Army Staff, General Kayani appointed Pasha on 29 September 2008. Pasha’s prior post was responsible for planning operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan, signaling a reorientation from the ISI's traditional Kashmir/India focus. Pasha was appointed director of the ISI at Washington's behest; Pasha is closely allied to General Kayani, the CIA, and holds anti-Taliban views. The United States Government had pressured Pakistan to replace Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj, the prior chief of the ISI, whom they claimed as "double dealing" with militants with a more acceptable candidate like Pasha. Additionally, Pasha’s appointment was part of a wider Chief of Army Staff reappointment shake-up that solidified General Kayani’s loyalty among the military as all prior appointees were done by former President and Chief of the Army Pervez Musharraf.
From : www.wikipedia.org
