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By   Baqir Sajjad Syed Updated   a day ago PM Nawaz Sharif is faced with the difficult choice of picking a new ISI chief — AFP photo/ File ISLAMABAD: Barely in his second year in office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is faced with the difficult choice of picking a new Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief — a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for the already strained civil-military relations. Director General of ISI Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, who was appointed as the spy chief in March 2012, is set to retire on Oct 1. And for many reasons, the sit-ins and the floods have not stopped politicians, journalists and analysts from speculating on who will replace Gen Islam in this key post. Know more:  New ISI chief to be named soon: report An extension for Gen Islam is highly unlikely; while the government is not too keen on the idea. It is also evident that the military is in no mood to ask for it. No wonder then that speculation i...

SWAT, known for its green meadows, gushing river and snow-capped mountains, has unfortunately come to relive its historic name, Suvastu — the white serpent — whose tenacity and viciousness has stung the political and military leadership so badly that both are now looking for new ways to put a lid on the monster of growing bloodshed and reclaim its fast-shrinking territory. The idyllic valley has gone really bad, its image distorted beyond recognition. Pakistan's most popular tourist destination is now haunted by death and fear; few officials now dare to go and serve there. Nearly 800 policemen — half of the total sanctioned strength of police in Swat, have either deserted or proceeded on long leave on one pretext or the other. Only one of the 600 police recruits trained by the military at the Punjab Regimental Centre in Mardan, volunteered to go and serve, while the others plainly refused to head to what is now being called the 'valley of death'. The second phase of the mil...

The 2008 TIME 100 Leaders & Revolutionaries # 20 of 101 Ashfaq Kayani Until his promotion to army chief last fall, Ashfaq Kayani was the ultimate gray man, chosen, it seemed, for his lack of political ambition and his unwavering loyalty to his boss, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. But Kayani, 56, quickly showed that his loyalty lay with the nation he had served for nearly four decades, not with the man who had elevated him to the most powerful position in the country. On taking office, Kayani ordered the withdrawal of all military officers from lucrative posts in the civilian bureaucracy. As Pakistan went to the polls in February, Kayani kept the army out of sight, a first in a nation long accustomed to election results tinged by a khaki shadow. The message was clear: his army would stick to the barracks and the battlefields, not the ballot boxes. Soldiers, friends, diplomats and politicians all extol his reasoned thinking and tempered judgment. "Kayani understands...