Special report: Pakistani Situation    

    ISLAMABAD, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has appointed new chief of the Military Intelligence(MI), the military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas confirmed on Thursday.

    Abbas told Xinhua that Major General Mohammad Asif replaced Major General Nadeem Ejaz as the MI director general, and the new MI chief will take the post Friday.

    Ejaz, appointed MI chief by then army chief Pervez Musharraf in 2006, has been posted as the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Bahawalpur of Pakistan's Punjab province.

    Ejaz is believed to be a close aide of President Musharraf.

    Major General Asif previously served as Pakistan's defense attache to Russia.

    The MI is one of the three intelligence agencies in Pakistan. The other two are Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) run by army and civilian Intelligence Bureau (IB).