ISLAMABAD / KARACHI, Sept 9: The government appointed on Thursday Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed as Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

He will replace Zafarullah Khan, who has been appointed chief of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority. Waseem Ahmed is the second FIA DG within the past one year. Mr Khan had replaced Tariq Khosa in December last year.

Mr Ahmed was made Capital City Police Officer of Karachi on June 30, 2008. He had previously served as SSP Central and East. Later he was promoted to the positions of Deputy Director of Immigration at Karachi Airport, Deputy Commandant of FC (Karachi), General Manager of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority in Karachi, DIG Headquarters (Balochistan) and DIG of Gwadar Range.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had nothing to do with the appointment of Mr Ahmed, adding that the decision had been taken by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

It is believed that Mr Ahmed, who remained helpless in curbing target killings in Karachi, will try to improve civil intelligence network to help the security agency in crushing groups creating unrest in the city.

Mr Ahmed described Karachi as a city with multi-faceted issues. He said the main challenge for police in Karachi was terrorism and targeted killings, and not crime. “A new problem is tension among political parties and its fallout.” The police force, he said, was not trained to handle political issues. He called for doubling resources of police. Mr Ahmed admitted that his efforts to de-weaponise the city did not succeed and warned that arms proliferation was a serious issue.

He said the FIA position was not new for him because he had worked for the agency between 1990 and 1996. During the stint he handled the yellow cab and Mehran Bank scams, Mr Ahmed recalled.