ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa on Thursday picked Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor as the new spokesman for the army and head of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Gen Ghafoor will succeed Lt Gen Asim Bajwa who remained the public face of the military for nearly four -and-a-half years. Lt Gen Bajwa has been posted as the Inspector General of the Arms Branch at GHQ.

The new military spokesman is from the artillery and was last posted as General Officer Comman­ding in the Malakand Division. Earlier, he was artillery brigade commander in Murree-based 12th Division.

He has also served in the Military Opera­tions Direc­torate, where he dealt with counterterrorism operations in the tribal areas and Afghanistan-related matters.

Analysts said Gen Ghafoor’s vast experience in operations could have been one of the considerations while being chosen for this posting.

Maj Gen Ghafoor is from Pakistan Military Acade­my’s 78th Long Course and was commissioned in service in 1988. He was promoted as a major general in January this year.

Other postings announced by the army were Maj Gen Abdullah Dogar as Commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy in place of Lt Gen Nadeem Raza, who following his promotion was posted as Rawalpindi Corps Commander.

Maj Gen Syed Adnan was posted as General Officer Commanding at Lahore, Maj Gen Fida Malik as Director General Logistics at GHQ, Maj Gen Zafarullah Khan as GOC Panu Aqil, Maj Gen Nadir Khan as Director Ge­neral Personnel Services and Provost Marshal (PS&PM) at GHQ and Maj Gen Zafar Iqbal has been posted as GOC armoured division at Gujranwala.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2016