Maj Gen Asim Bajwa to replace Athar Abbas as DG ISPR

DG ISPR Athar Abbas will be retiring in June.

ISLAMABAD: Major General Asim Bajwa has been appointed the new director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) and spokesman for the Pakistan Army.

A military official has confirmed that Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani named Bajwa to replace the incumbent DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas, who retires in June this year.

The incoming DG ISPR is currently posted in Dera Ismail Khan as general officer commanding.

Bajwa has supervised key military operations to flush out militants from the South Waziristan Agency.

He also served as former dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s deputy military secretary and commanded the important 111 brigade.

Bajwa will take charge of his new responsibilities after Abbas retires in June.

Major General Abbas was commissioned in October 1976 from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul and belongs to the Armoured Corps.

He has held various command, staff and instructional appointments that include command of an armoured regiment, armoured brigade and armoured division.

A graduate of Command and Staff College, Quetta and Armed Forces Staff College, Malaysia, he has been General Staff Officer (Operations) in various armoured formation.

He is a participant of the Executive Course at Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii, USA. He has attended Armed Forces War Course and National Defence Course at the National Defence College, Islamabad.

A Masters degree holder in War Studies and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University, he was also on the faculty of Command and Staff College, Quetta and National Defence College, Islamabad.

He was promoted to Major General in June 2005 and has commanded an armoured division from June 2005 to June 2007.