RAWALPINDI, (DNA) – The incumbent Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt-Gen Naveed Mukhtar is set to retire on October 1 after serving in the Pakistan Army for 35 years.

11 Corps (Peshawar) Commander Lt Gen Nazir Butt, Commander of Army Strategic Force Command Lt Gen Mian Muhammad Hilal Hussain, Military Secretary at the GHQ Lt Gen Ghayur Mahmood and Training and Evaluation Inspector General Lt Gen Hidayatur Rehman are also retiring on Monday.

Lt-Gen Mukhtar took charge of one of the most important offices of the country in 2016 when he was transferred to head the corp intelligence directorate of the country. He was serving as the Karachi Corps Commander before that.

The appointment of the next Director General (DG) ISI is one of the most crucial decisions and would be made by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Earlier this week, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa along with the DG ISI met PM Imran and it is being presumed that the new chief’s appointment might have come under discussions.

Usually, the army chief sends three names for the coveted slot and the prime minister has the authority to pick any one of them.

There have been instances in the past where the ISI chief has been given an extension in his tenure.

The spymaster was commissioned in the Armoured Corps regiment in 1983. He graduated from the National Defence University (NDU), Command & Staff College and the United States Army War College.

Before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and assuming a charge of the Karachi Corp in 2014, Lt-Gen Mukhtar had served as the DG Rangers Sindh.