PM mulls over three names for top IB job

Having retired on Monday, Aftab Sultan seeks no further extension

ISLAMABAD : Three names are under consideration as Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is expected to appoint new chief of the top civilian intelligence agency, Intelligence Bureau (IB), after the retirement of its director general (DG) Aftab Sultan on Monday.

Sources in the Prime Minister Office told The Express Tribune that for the coveted post, the PM is considering the names of Mehr Khaliq Dad Lak, Fawad Asadullah and Dr Suleman – three officers already serving the IB.

Lak is an officer in basic pay scale (BPS) 22 while Asadullah and Suleman are in BPS-21. Lak is presently the commandant of the IB Academy, Asadullah is posted as joint director at the IB headquarters, and Suleman is the joint director looking after IB operations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Both Asadullah and Suleman have field experience of counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations. Lak previously served as Capital City Police Officer in Lahore and was promoted in BPS-22 in December last year.

According to the PM Office sources, Premier Abbasi is mulling over the new IB chief’s appointment after Sultan conveyed to the PM his intention not to continue after expiry of his third consecutive extension.

The officials dispelled the reports that the PM was reluctant to give IB director general yet another extension, saying Sultan himself was not inclined to continue as top civilian spymaster and intended to retire after staying in the office for years.

“He [Sultan] thinks it’s time other officers are be given a chance,” said an official source.

Sultan was first appointed as IB director general in October 2011 by the then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. In March 2013, he was appointed as Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) by caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso ahead of the May 2013 general elections.

The next month, in June 2013, the then PM Nawaz Sharif appointed Sultan as IB chief. He retired from service in BPS-22 in 2014, but was given annual extension in service twice before being given two-year extension by Sharif in February 2016.

During his stint as DG, Sultan became a trusted confidante of Sharif and played an active role in ‘managing the situation’ during the marathon sit-in by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek in 2014.

On operational side, Sultan is said to be on the forefront in equipping the IB with modern techniques of espionage and surveillance that helped the security agency secure major gains in Pakistan’s counterterrorism drive in Karachi, Balochistan and north-western tribal region.

In October last year, his role as IB chief was mired in controversy following surfacing of a list of 37 lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz who allegedly had connections with  sectarian outfits.

At least eight legislators named in the list are members of PM Abbasi’s cabinet. Both Abbasi and Sultan dismissed the list as bogus and held meetings with the lawmakers to pacify their concerns.