ISLAMABAD, March 15 Major General Asif Yaseen Malik and Major General Mohammad Owais are being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, official sources told Dawn on Monday.

They said after the promotion, Maj-Gen Yaseen was expected to replace Peshawar Crops Commander Lt-Gen Masood Aslam. Gen Masood was the first of three star generals to have been given extension by the Chief of the Army Staff, but he is not interested in continuing in service and wants to be relieved.

His son was among those killed in a terrorist attack on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi.

Maj-Gen Asif Yaseen who is currently posted in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is likely to take up his new assignment by the end of the current month.

According to the sources, Maj-Gen Mohammad Owais will, after his promotion, replace the commander of Army Air Defence, Lt-Gen M. Ashraf Saleem, who is due to retire on March 31.

Gen Owais is currently serving as the director-general at the Air Defence Directorate.