Can General Rizwan Akhtar clean up Pakistan’s notorious ISI spy agency? --- High hopes for new chief of ISI, which has long been a law unto itself in the murky world of the Taliban, political gangs and mafias --- Pakistan’s new spy chief, who takes up his post this month, comes to the job of running one of the world’s most notorious intelligence agencies after two years trying to bring order to one of Asia’s most troubled cities. Former colleagues have nothing but praise for General Rizwan Akhtar’s stint commanding the paramilitary Rangers during the internal security force’s crackdown on the criminal mafias, armed wings of political parties and religious militants that dominate the teeming port city of Karachi. -- The ISI has faced calls for it to be branded a terrorist organisation because of its habit of drawing a distinction between militants trying to topple Pakistan and those whose interests are confined to Afghanistan and India. --- Sceptics say the ISI is beyond reform. Director generals only serve for a couple of years, hardly enough time to get to grips with a sprawling organisation that includes some officers who, it is feared, share the ideology of the militants that they handle. There has even been speculation that the ISI has slipped from the control of the army itself. -- Read More, Jon Boone in Islamabad, Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/general-rizwan-akhtar-clean-up-pakistans-notorious-isi-spy-agency