Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence

Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence
Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence
	Incumbent; Asim Malik; since 30 September 2024
	Inter-Services Intelligence
Abbreviation	DG ISI
Member of	National Security Council
Residence	Chaklala, Rawalpindi
Appointer	Prime Minister
Term length	3 years;
Inaugural holder	Walter Cawthorn
Formation	1948

The Director-General (DG) is head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence service, operationally responsible for providing critical national security and intelligence assessment to the government of Pakistan. Walter Cawthorn had conceived the idea of ISI. Afterwards, Brigadier Syed Shahid Hamid took over and was later promoted to a two-star rank of a major general and became the second director-general of the ISI.^[1]^[2]

The current DG of ISI is Lt. General Asim Malik since 30 September 2024.^[3]

List of Directors

#	Name	Start of term	End of term
1	Major General Walter Cawthorn^[1]	January 1948	June 1948
2	Brigadier Syed Shahid Hamid HJ	14 July 1948^[4]^[5]	22 August 1950
3	Brigadier Mirza Hamid Hussain^[4]	23 August 1950^[6]	May 1951
4	Colonel Muhammad Afzal Malik^[4]	May 1951	April 1953
5	Brigadier Syed Ghawas^[4]	April 1953	August 1955
6	Brigadier^[4] Sher Bahadur	August 1955	September 1957
7	Brigadier^[4] Muhammad Hayat	September 1957	October 1959
8	Brigadier^[1] Riaz Hussain^[4]	October 1959	May 1966
9	Major General Muhammed Akbar Khan^[7]	May 1966	September 1971
10	Major General^[2] Ghulam Jilani Khan	September 1971^[8]	16 September 1978^[9]
11	Lieutenant General Muhammad Riaz Khan	17 September 1978	20 June 1979
12	Lieutenant General Akhtar Abdur Rahman NI(M) HI(M)	21 June 1979	29 March 1987
13	Lieutenant General Hamid Gul HI(M) SBt	29 March 1987	29 May 1989
14	Lieutenant General Shamsur Rahman Kallu HI(M) TBt	30 May 1989	August 1990
15	Lieutenant General Asad Durrani HI(M)	August 1990	13 March 1992
16	Lieutenant General Javed Nasir HI(M) SBt	14 March 1992	13 May 1993
17	Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi HI(M) SBt	14 May 1993	October 1995
18	Lieutenant General Naseem Rana	October 1995	October 1998^[9]
19	Lieutenant General Ziauddin Butt HI(M)	October 1998	12 October 1999
20	Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed HI(M)	20 October 1999	7 October 2001
21	Lieutenant General Ehsan ul Haq HI(M)	7 October 2001	5 October 2004
22	Lieutenant General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani HI(M) SI(M) TI(M)	5 October 2004	8 October 2007
23	Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj HI(M) TBt	9 October 2007	29 September 2008
24	Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha HI(M)	1 October 2008	18 March 2012
25	Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam HI(M)	19 March 2012	7 November 2014
26	Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar	7 November 2014	11 December 2016
27	Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar	11 December 2016	25 October 2018
28	Lieutenant General Asim Munir HI(M)	25 October 2018	16 June 2019
29	Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed HI(M)	17 June 2019	19 Nov 2021
30	Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum	20 November 2021	29 September 2024
31	Lieutenant General Asim Malik	30 September 2024^[3]	Incumbent

References

^ ^a ^b Faith, Unity, Discipline. Oxford University Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-84904-863-7.
^ "Average tenure of 22 ISI chiefs in 70 years has been 3.18 years". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
^ ^a ^b "Lt Gen Asim Malik appointed new DG ISI: state media". 23 September 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kiessling, Dr. Hein (2016). Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-84904-863-7.
^ "Appointments : Officers". 13 July 1948.
^ "Joint Service Commanders' Committee: Inter Services Intelligence Directorate". 25 August 1950.
^ "General Mohammed Akbar Khan (and some others)". 25 October 2016.
^ Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Routledge. 2016. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-317-19609-9.
^ ^a ^b "Lt. Gen Zaheer is 18th DG ISI since 1959". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 2021-04-04.

[Walt-1] Faith, Unity, Discipline. Oxford University Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-84904-863-7.

[2] "Average tenure of 22 ISI chiefs in 70 years has been 3.18 years". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2021-04-04.

[dawn-3] "Lt Gen Asim Malik appointed new DG ISI: state media". 23 September 2024.

[HK-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kiessling, Dr. Hein (2016). Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-84904-863-7.

[JSCC-5] "Appointments : Officers". 13 July 1948.

[6] "Joint Service Commanders' Committee: Inter Services Intelligence Directorate". 25 August 1950.

[7] "General Mohammed Akbar Khan (and some others)". 25 October 2016.

[8] Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Routledge. 2016. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-317-19609-9.

[:0-9] "Lt. Gen Zaheer is 18th DG ISI since 1959". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 2021-04-04.

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v t e Inter-Services Intelligence
Major operations	Operation Rising Sun (1970) Operation Fair Play (1977) Operation Tupac (1980) Operation Cyclone (1979–1989) Operation Midnight Jackal (1989) Operation Clean-up (1992–1994) Drone Strikes in Pakistan (2004–2016)
by Country	Afghanistan Bosnia India United Kingdom United States
Directors General	Walter Cawthorn Syed Shahid Hamid Mirza Hamid Hussain Muhammad Afzal Malik Syed Ghawas Sher Bahadur Muhammad Hayat Riaz Hussain Muhammed Akbar Khan Ghulam Jilani Khan Muhammad Riaz Khan Akhtar Abdur Rehman Hamid Gul Shamsur Rahman Kallu Asad Durrani Javed Nasir Javed Ashraf Qazi Naseem Rana Ziauddin Butt Mahmud Ahmed Ehsan ul Haq Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Nadeem Taj Ahmad Shuja Pasha Zaheerul Islam Rizwan Akhtar Naveed Mukhtar Asim Munir Faiz Hameed Nadeem Anjum Asim Mailk
Bibliography	Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan Faith, Unity, Discipline: The ISI of Pakistan Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert Action and Internal Operations Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI
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