WASHINGTON, May 9: The US military confirmed on Friday that Maj-Gen Jay Hood is no longer going to Pakistan to head the US defence office at the embassy in Islamabad.

“Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen requirement Gen Hood is being considered for a different, equally important position within the United States Central Command headquarters,” Major Sherri Reed, a command spokeswoman, told journalists.

“We want to put the most qualified person,” a State Department official told Dawn asked to comment on change. “Wait for a formal announcement (of his replacement).”

“Our determination to send our best people to Pakistan reflects the importance of our defence relationship with Pakistan and our relationship in the war on terror,” Major Reed added. Gen Hood was the commandant of the Guantanamo prison camp from 2005 to 2006.

During his tenure, some US guards were accused of desecrating Muslim holy books, sparking riots across the Islamic world.

Both opposition and ruling parties opposed his posting, forcing the new government in Islamabad to say that they would ask Washington to reconsider their decision.

Gen Hood was named in March to the post of US defence representative in Pakistan, which would have given him a major say in military operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists in the tribal areas.

He would have replaced Maj-Gen James Helmly, the current US defence representative to Pakistan.

Major Reed would not comment on whether the decision to withdraw Gen Hood was spurred by negative reaction in Pakistan but Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told journalists “that was part of it.”

Riots erupted in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan in 2005 following a report in Newsweek that military interrogators had desecrated Muslim religious books to rattle detainees.