ISLAMABAD: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has allowed 26 retired officers of the armed forces to appear on media as defence analysts.

According to a notification issued by the ISPR on Monday, Lt Gen Moinuddin Haider, Let Gen Amjad Shoaib, Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool, Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi, Lt Gen Asif Yaseen Malik, Lt Gen Raza Ahmed, Lt Gen Ashraf Saleem, Maj Gen Ejaz Awan, Maj Gen Ghulam Mustafa, Brig Saad Rasool, Brig Farooq Hameed, Brig Ghazanfar Ali, Brig Aslam Ghumman, Brig Nadir Mir, Brig Asadullah, Brig Asif Haroon, Brig Harris Nawaz, Brig Said Nazir, Brig Simson Simson Sharof, Admiral Ahmed Tasnim, AM Shahid Latif, AM Ikram Bhatti, AM Masood Akhtar, AM Riaz-u-Din, AVM Shahzad Ch and Air Cdre Sajjad Haider have been allowed to appear on media as defence analysts.

“Their views/comments/opinions on media shall remain personal/independent expression and not attributable to the institution,” read the notification.

The prominent omissions are retired Brig Mahmood Shah, retired Lt Gen Muhammad Asad Durrani, Lt Gen Talat Masood, retired Maj Amir and two former DG ISPR retired Maj Gen Athar Abbas and Maj Gen Rashid Quershi.

However, the notification said that any other retired officer desirous of appearing as defence analyst can contact the ISPR to obtain a no-objection certificate.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority recently instructed all television channels to seek prior clearance from the ISPR before inviting retired military officers on news and current affairs programmes “to solicit their views on matters of national security”.

The media regulator, in a notification dated April 4, stated that “concerned quarters” have observed that retired military officers, when invited on TV programmes, “are usually not fully conversant with the latest defence and security developments due to their service background and post-retirement time”.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2019