EXCLUSIVE: Which senior army official was photoshopped from Bill Gates meeting picture?

Yesterday, a picture was released by the Prime Minister’s Office of a luncheon hosted by PM Imran Khan in honour of Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Gates was on a one-day visit to Pakistan yesterday, which was also his first-ever visit to the country.

Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI's luncheon in honor of @BillGates

Mr. Bill Gates is visiting Pakistan at the special invitation of the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/zSYNI6ddki

— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) February 17, 2022

The picture in which PM Khan and Bill Gates are sitting with Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Mahmood Khan, Azam Khan, Shaukat Tarin, Shah Farman, Khalid Khurshid and several others at the main table sparked a debate on Twitter for a missing link. If one looks at the picture closely, someone between Dr Faisal Sultan and Mahmood Khan seems to be ‘missing’.

Something’s off with this picture put out by the PMO of lunch w Bill Gates. Can’t quite put my finger on it… pic.twitter.com/GAXXDKQVJo

— Fahd Humayun (@fahdhumayun) February 17, 2022

Picture on the right is (poorly) photoshopped to take out a person who sat by the door… https://t.co/XrdxgQZL1Y

— Issam Ahmed (@IssamAhmed) February 17, 2022

Twitter users wondered who had been photoshopped out of the picture while some Twitter users tried to guess the name of the person.

Shibli Faraz

— Ayesha Ijaz Khan (@ayeshaijazkhan) February 17, 2022

Journalist Cyril Almeida tweeted: “A day later, the mystery of who was photoshopped out of this pic continues… but if rumour is to be believed…”

Who was photoshopped?

The Current reached out to its sources and confirmed that it was the Director-General (DG) of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum who had been photoshopped from the luncheon meeting picture.

Ansar Abbasi had reported for The News in December 2021 that the new DG ISI has asked all authorities concerned not to release to the media his picture or video footage made during an official meeting. As per The Current’s sources, it was due to this policy that he had to be taken out of the official picture released by the PM Office yesterday.

It’s a standing instruction for all concerned from the incumbent DG ISI not to release any of his pictures or video footage of any official meeting that he attends.

Read More: New spy chief says no to the media

Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was appointed as new DG ISI in October 2021. The post was previously held by Lt Gen Faiz Hameed who is now Corps Commander Peshawar.