Lt-Gen Rashad Mahmood

Current Posting

Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to Gen Kayani - Chief of General Staff (CGS)

Service history

• Commander, Lahore IV Corps (as three-star/Lt General)
• DG-C at the 151 (where he essentially re-established the pivotal Counterrorism, or 'C' Branch, of Aabpara)
• Military Secretary to Nawaz Sharif-era president Rafiq Tarar (as one-star/Brigadier)
• UN Brigade Commander (as one-star/Brigadier)

Winning hand

• Second in line after Lt-Gen Haroon Aslam. If Haroon gets CJCSC, then it's easy pickings for Rashad (pronounced 'Rashid'). If Nawaz Sharif decides it's another service's turn (probably the Navy's), then Rashad will have to rely on Mian Sahib's good books, as well as the position that he's only 'minutes junior' to Haroon
• His PSO posting as CGS - the operational and intelligence eyes and ears of Kayani - is an indicator of where things might head for him. Five CGSs (Yahya Khan, Cul Hassan Khan, Mirza Aslam Beg, Asif Nawaz and Jahangir Karamat) made it to COAS and another three (Ariz Khan, Tariq Majid and Khalid Shameem Wynne) made it to CJCSC
• As commander of Lahore's IV Corps, Rashad interacted duly with the Sharifs as their party held Punjab in the previous administration
• He is the senior-most of a select few general-spies that Kayani -Pakistan's first DG-ISI to serve as COAS – has moulded in his own image to try and bridge the operational and stra-tegic gaps between Aabpara and Chaklala. With a stint at reforming - in fact, creating - a critical cell to enhance the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence's efforts at countering violent extremism, Rashad is the tall, mild-mannered, lanky soldier-spy who will often be found in the corner of a room, versus in the middle of the action.
• Rashad enjoys a 'new school' lobby in the army; he is perceived as close to the US because of his stint at ISI, plus his work done on coun-tering IEDs Also, he's from the same regiment, the Baloch, as Kayani