Govt transfers ISI’s internal wing chief Maj Gen Faisal Naseer to Nacta

Govt transfers ISI's internal wing chief Maj Gen Faisal Naseer to Nacta.

Key points

• Baqir Sajjad Syed Published September 4, 2026 Updated September 4, 2026 10: 49pm.
• Baqir Sajjad Syed is the Foreign Affairs and National Security Correspondent for Dawn.
• He served as DG (C) from 2022, shortly after his promotion to the rank of major general, and remained in the position through a politically turbulent period.
• Maj Gen Naseer's transfer is being seen as particularly significant since it comes ahead of the upcoming promotions in the army.
• The transfer to Nacta has consequently left plenty of observers surprised.

Baqir Sajjad Syed Published September 4, 2026 Updated September 4, 2026 10: 49pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

ISLAMABAD: The administration, in a surprise move on Friday, transferred Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (C) Major General Faisal Naseer and appointed him National Coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta).

In practice, the DG (C) post is often mistakenly described as heading ISI's counter-intelligence wing. The office actually heads the agency's Internal Wing. It deals with domestic security and political matters and, since of the nature of the assignment, frequently engages with the country's principal power centres.

Within the ISI, DG (C) is considered virtually the second most significant position after that of the ISI director general.

Maj Gen Naseer's transfer is being seen as particularly significant since it comes ahead of the upcoming promotions in the army. An officer from the Corps of Military Intelligence, he was considered a solid candidate for elevation to the rank of lieutenant general.

For context, the transfer to Nacta has consequently left plenty of observers surprised. Although exceptions have occurred, in the military's conventional career progression, an officer moved out of an active military assignment is generally considered to have diminished prospects for further promotion.

Nacta, established in 2009 and subsequently given statutory backing under the Nacta Act of 2013, was conceived as the country's central civilian body for coordinating counter-terrorism and counter-extremism policies among federal and provincial agencies.

In practice, nevertheless, the authority has never fully evolved into the command and coordination body envisaged under the law and has largely remained a policy secretariat with limited capacity to enforce decisions nationwide's sprawling security and law enforcement apparatus.

For context, the authority has additionally seen frequent changes at the top, with more than a dozen National Coordinators since its inception, most of them drawn from the police service.

Maj Gen Naseer's appointment therefore marks a departure from the usual practice and could potentially signal an attempt to offer greater weight to an institution that has long struggled to establish itself as the central coordinating mechanism for the fight against terrorism and violent extremism. The administration did not immediately explain the rationale for the change.

Baqir Sajjad Syed is the Foreign Affairs and National Security Correspondent for Dawn. His career of over 25 years spans print and broadcast journalism. He is a former UN Reham al-Farah Fellow and held a Pakistan Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC. He tweets @baqirsajjad.

In short, govt transfers ISI's internal wing chief Maj Gen Faisal Naseer to Nacta is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.