Pakistan has appointed serving ISI chief Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik as the new National Security Adviser (NSA) amidst raging tension with India. Lt Gen Malik, currently serving as Director General of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), will hold the additional charge of the NSA. He is the country’s tenth NSA, but it is for the first time that a serving ISI chief has been given the task to serve concurrently in the two key positions.

Malik was appointed as the Director General of the ISI in October 2024. Lt Gen Malik previously commanded the Infantry Division in Balochistan and the Infantry Brigade in Waziristan. He has also received a Sword of Honour in his course and served as the chief instructor at the National Defence University (NDU), as well as an instructor at the Command and Staff College Quetta.