Zaheerul Islam

Raja Zaheer-ul-Islam HI (M), is a retired lieutenant-general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 25th Director General of the ISI.

He was appointed to the position on 9 March 2012 and began working a day after his predecessor Ahmed Shuja Pasha left on 18 March 2012.

At the time of his appointment, he was serving as the Corps Commander V Corps, headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan.

Early and personal life He was born into a Janjua Rajput family in Rawalpindi. His father retired as a brigadier in the Pakistan Army,

His uncle was Shah Nawaz Khan, a major general in the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose.

In 2012, it was alleged that Islam is related to Indian film actor Shah Rukh Khan. The Pakistan Army denied the allegations and said since Lateef Fatima, the mother of Khan, is the adopted daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan, Lateef and her son have no blood relation to Zaheer-ul-Islam. However, in an interview, Shah Rukh Khan clarified that it was his father who was a cousin of Shah Nawaz Khan.

Military career Zaheerul Islam was commissioned in the Punjab Regiment in the 55th PMA Long Course on 16 April 1977. He served as Corps Commander of the V Corps, headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan.

Political career Zaheer-ul-Islam became politically active in June 2022 when he publicly showed support for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Previously, in 2020, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif accused Zaheer-ul-Islam of seeking his resignation during the 2014 Azadi march. Zaheer-ul-Islam denied the allegations. In 2015, there were allegations that Ahmad Shuja Pasha, his predecessor at ISI and Zaheer-ul-Islam were conspiring to create a rift between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif. But the actual events that followed in Pakistan in 2015, did not show that they had succeeded in their alleged efforts.

A major newspaper of Pakistan reportedly stated:

"Quite like most of his career in the intelligence, he has refused to come out of the shadows to clarify his position".