Faisal Naseer () is a Pakistani two-star

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and

spymaster A spymaster is a leader of a group of spies or an intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforce ...

who is the current Director General of Counter Intelligence for the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...

(ISI).

Career

In 1992, Faisal Naseer was inducted into the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

. His role in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

and

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

earned him the moniker 'super spy'. During his tenure as a

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

in 2018, he was conferred with the

Tamgha-i-Basalat Tamgha-i-Basalat () is an award of the Pakistan Armed Forces. See also * Awards and decorations of the Pakistan Armed Forces An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a ce ...

, a distinguished service decoration. In July 2022, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. Later, in the same year, he was designated as the Director General (Counterintelligence) DG(C), effectively making him the second-in-command of the ISI, overseeing

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

and

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

. He holds the highest position in ISI, second only to the Director General of the ISI.

Controversies

Controversy

The Pakistani senior Journalist

Arshad Sharif Arshad Sharif (; 22 February 1973 – 23 October 2022) was a Pakistani journalist, writer, and news anchor. He specialized in investigative journalism and covered many political events in the country for national and international news organisa ...

, who was forced to flee from the country after being charged with sedition over criticizing the military, was subsequently murdered in Kenya. In his press briefing, Anjum tried to convince public regarding the fleeing of Arshad Sharif, however, months after the presser, Arshad Sharif's mother publicly accused a number of senior-ranking officers of ISI, including former Army Chief

General Bajwa Qamar Javed Bajwa (; born 11 November 1960) is a retired Pakistani four-star General (Pakistan), general who served as the tenth Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan), chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan Army, Pakistan from 29 November 2016 to 29 Nov ...

, Faisal Naseer and Nadeem Anjum of conspiring for the "targeted, premeditated, planned and calculated murder" of her son, claiming that Sharif was threatened by the agency after insinuating in a program called "Woh Kon Tha", (aired on ARY News) that ISI and America had played a major part in Imran Khan's ouster through a high-profile regime change operation in Pakistan.

Criticism

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

likened the role of Faisal Naseer in Pakistan like the

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...

. He accused Naseer for being behind an attempt to assassinate him in November 2022. In October 2022, Naseer was accused of torturing Pakistani politician

Azam Swati Muhammad Azam Khan Swati (Urdu, Pashto: محمد اعظم خان سواتی; born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the Minister of Narcotics Control and Railways from 2020 to 2022. He is the elected senior ...

in custody. Imran Khan urged Chief of Army Staff

Qamar Javed Bajwa Qamar Javed Bajwa (; born 11 November 1960) is a retired Pakistani four-star general who served as the tenth chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan from 29 November 2016 to 29 November 2022. In 2018, he was ranked 68th in the ''Forbes'' list of ...

to remove him, saying that he's bringing "disrepute to the army, Pakistan and you". However, when asked to bring up proof in order to back up his claims,

admitted that he had no evidence for his allegations against Naseer.

Awards and recognition

Hilal-e-Shujaat Civil awards and decorations of Pakistan are awards and decorations which are bestowed by the Government of Pakistan for acts of accomplishment benefiting the nation as a whole. It was established after the constitution of Pakistan was passed in ...

References

{{Inter-Services Intelligence Living people Pakistani spies Pakistan Army major generals People of Inter-Services Intelligence Spymasters Recipients of Hilal-e-Shujaat Year of birth missing (living people)