Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has dispelled reports of joint operations with the US against militants in North Waziristan, saying Pakistan alone would decide the timing of any offensive in the tribal region according to its military requirements.
Sharif, who has urged the masses to defy a government clampdown and join a nationwide protest, said the "chances of army takeover is absolutely nil".
Diplomatic and other sources say the two organisations believe they can play a role because they are intrinsically linked to policy-making in Pakistan.
Lt Gen Zubair Hayat appointed as Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff Committee.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif plans to name Pakistan's new army chief weeks before Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's term ends in November to quell speculation about the issue, according to a media report on Monday.
Amidst calls for the military's deployment in Karachi to end a wave of ethnic and political violence there, Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said his force is ready to restore peace in the financial hub if asked to do so by the government.
Inter-Services Intelligence head Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a close aide of Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is heading for a likely rare second term.
The Pakistan government will not grant any further extension to Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, whose current term ends in March, and is considering the names of three generals to replace him, according to a media report on Thursday.
The Pakistan Army on Wednesday changed the commander of a Rawalpindi-based unit that has traditionally played a vital role in military coups as army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani gathered his key aides to assess an escalation in tensions with the civilian government.
The Pakistani military on Thursday said it was "under no pressure" to carry out anti-militancy operations in the restive North Waziristan even as it emphasised that US intelligence agencies will not be allowed to conduct any "independent operation" within the country.
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has given his troops "full liberty" to respond to any further cross-border attacks by NATO forces in Afghanistan in the wake of an air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, official sources said.
Pakistan's top political leadership was on Friday briefed by Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on the security situation in the country after suspected Taliban militants carried out a series of brazen attacks on military and police establishments.
Emerging reports from Pakistan suggest that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might opt to step down in the wake of a meeting with the Army chief though the President himself denied the news. Musharraf held a meeting with army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Army House in Rawalpindi on Wednesday night that lasted over three-and-half hours.
The name of Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's successor will be announced a day before he retires on November 29, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said on Friday.
Lt Gen Haroon Aslam of the Pakistan Army on Thursday resigned a day after he was superseded by his two juniors who were made the new army chief and the chairman joint chief of staff committee.
The expectations of both Pakistan and NATO have not been "fully fulfilled" at the alliance's summit in Chicago, Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said.
Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta has confronted Pakistan's military leadership with evidence of collusion between militants and security officials in the country, causing fresh strains in the troubled United States-Pak ties.
Pakistan's armed forces will mount an equal response "within minutes" if India carries out any surgical strike inside the country, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has reportedly assured the nation's leadership.
In an apparent reference to India, Pakistan today said it was concerned over the "massive arms acquisitions" in the region and that it is committed to defend itself against all external and internal threats.
Pakistan's beleaguered Prime Minister on Sunday defiantly rejected the Army's demand that he retract his criticism of the military, a day ahead of the crucial Supreme Court hearing relating to graft cases which could have a decisive bearing on the current crisis gripping the nation.
The Pakistan government has rejected former defence secretary Lieutenant General (retired) Khalid Naeem Lodhi's claim that he was sacked on charges of misconduct without being given a hearing, saying he had been fired in the "national interest".
Hours after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zaradri suddenly returned home in the thick of brewing standoff over the memogate affair, the army sought to dispel impression that a telephonic conversation between him and its powerful chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had anything to do with the "some events" in last 72 hours.
China's Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu arrived in Islamabad for a two-day visit against the backdrop of growing tensions between Pakistan and the US over accusations that the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence was involved in waging a proxy war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan on Saturday launched its biggest ever Army exercise invloving 50,000 soldiers to train them to prepare for the threat of a conventional war with India in the Cholistan desert along the country's eastern border.
British Defence and Home Ministers will arrive in Islamabad on Monday for meetings with the top Pakistani leadership to take stock of the regional security situation and the war against terror.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday night to discuss the fallout of the coordinated terrorist strikes in Mumbai amid India's accusations about possible Pakistani links to the attacks. This was the second meeting on Satruday of the three top leaders
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had wanted to retain military ruler Pervez Musharraf's close aide Tariq Aziz as a key Pakistani interlocutor for India but the move was opposed by Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a United States diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks has said.
Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a key figure in the memo scandal, on Friday claimed that President Asif Ali Zardari had advance information of the United States military raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad last year.
Beleaguered Pakistan government appears to be in no mood to tone down in the battle of attrition when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appears before the Supreme Court on Thursday in compliance with its direction. Gilani, who is already involved in a tussle with the powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is unlikely to offer apology to the court which has issued a contempt notice for failing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, sources said.
A US-based businessman has claimed that he has "crystal clear" evidence to back his claim that he acted as an intermediary between President Asif Ali Zardari and the US administration to avert a military coup in wake of the unilateral US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Ending weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday appointed Lt Gen Raheel Sharif as Pakistan's new army chief and Lt Gen Rashid Mehmood as the chairman joint chiefs of staff committee.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday dismissed reports that his government was planning to remove the chiefs of the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying he had personally ensured that both generals were given an extension in service.
With Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's term coming to an end in November, names of top generals who are likely to succeed him are being discussed in the political circles and in the corridors of power.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said that the Pakistan People's Party-led government was not giving any extension to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as he has not asked for the extension of his tenure.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad to hold consultations with in Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
While Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is leading the Pakistani delegation for the Pak-US strategic talks beginning on Wednesday, it is Pak Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who is actually in charge of running the show.
Pakistan's former army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf kept Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the dark about Kargil Operation in 1999 despite the latter heading forces responsible to guard (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir, according to a new book by a former general.
All-weather friends, China and Pakistan on Thursday pledged to strengthen their military ties and step up their defence cooperation to a "new level" as Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held talks with top Chinese military officials in Beijing.
"We want good ties with all neighbours including India and Afghanistan," he told the Senators.
General Qamar Bajwa, his colleagues say, is a firm opponent of extremism and terrorism. He may prove even more forceful in the fight against terrorism than his predecessor, who is credited with launching Operation Zarb-i-Azb, which helped lower the frequency of terrorist attacks.
