Refusing to play second fiddle to the powerful military, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said he will be the Army chief's "boss" if voted back to power in the May 11 general elections.
Insisting that the Pakistani Army is supportive of a dialogue with India, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should visit his country to kickstart the peace process.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met on Friday. This is their second meeting since the memo scandal that sparked off a tense stand-off between the civilian and military leadership. The informal meeting between Zardari and Kayani at the presidency took place after the ceremony to award Nishan-e-Imtiaz to Admiral Asif Sandila.
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.
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 Army's top commanders have decided to throw their weight behind the Supreme Court in its standoff with the civilian government over the memo scandal and the revival of high-profile graft cases, according to a media report on Friday.
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held a key meeting with top commanders on Thursday against the backdrop of an escalating row with the civilian government over the memo scandal.
A Pakistani court has admitted a petition seeking to block any attempt by the government to sack army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha over the memo scandal. The petition filed by lawyer Maulvi Iqbal Haider was accepted by the Islamabad high court on Wednesday. Haider asked the court to restrain the president and prime minister from taking any action against the army and ISI chiefs.
A confrontation between the army and the government came to a head in Pakistan on Wednesday with the powerful army chief warning the prime minister's critical remarks against him and the ISI chief over the memo scandal could have "very serious ramifications" for the country.
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.
Amid speculation of a military takeover in Pakistan, its powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has bluntly told the civilian leadership to put its house in order through measures like a crackdown on corruption and improvement in its "faltering" response to the devastating floods.
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.
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has described the alleged secret memo sent to the United States military in May as a conspiracy against national security and called for a thorough probe into the matter, according to a media report on Thursday.
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.
The Inter-Services Intelligence does not act independently and takes instructions from Pakistani army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, says a former top aide of United States President Barack Obama, asserting that the spy agency has links with the dreaded Haqqani network of Taliban.
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.
Warning that Pakistan, a nuclear power, was not like Afghanistan or Iraq, the country's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said United States would have to think "10 times" before launching an unilateral action in the restive North Waziristan.
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Thursday met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani shortly before the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan called on the premier.
The Pakistan army's legal branch has concluded that there is no scope for the military to try former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani for paying millions of rupees to politicians to rig the 1990 general election, a media report said.
Pakistan will not take military action against the Haqqani network despite growing pressure from the United States, even as the country's top military commanders have agreed on the need to de-escalate the situation, according to media reports on Monday. These decisions were made at a special meeting of the Corps Commanders chaired by Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday. The commanders vowed to resist US demands for an offensive against the Haqqanis.
A military coup in Pakistan has become inevitable as the country is fast descending into chaos because of the "failure" of the political leadership, some top commanders feel.
America's top military official arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for consultations with Pakistan's civil and military leadership in the wake of tension with India following the terror attacks in Mumbai.
The Pakistani administration is considering creating a new post to ensure that army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will continue to play a crucial role in the military establishment in Pakistan.
Shuja Nawaz, arguably the most authoritative expert on the Pakistani military, assesses the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would co-chair the first US-Pak Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington on March 24.
Against the backdrop of reports about Hindus migrating to India due to forced conversions and kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday said Pakistan was envisioned as a country where the life and property of all minorities would be safe.
Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that the Pakistani forces are fully prepared to give a befitting reply to any 'misadventure' from India.
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, under pressure from his colleagues to "reduce" ties with the United States following the unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is said to be "fighting to survive".
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.
The Pakistan army will remain an 'India-centric' institution till the water row between the two countries and the Kashmir dispute is resolved, said General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.Kayani added that the Pakistan army could not afford to let its guard down against India given the history of unresolved issues between the two countries and the latter's military capability. He defended his tough stance saying all war preparations of India seemed to be 'Pakistan-specific'.
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.
Pakistan army general Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday said the Pakistan is capable of defeating any aggressive design or 'cold start doctrine,' in an apparent reference to Indian army's new military doctrine including scenarios such as a two-front war with China and Pakistan.
India's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh opened secret talks with Pakistan Army chief 10 months ago to build on the cricket-inspired diplomatic thaw between the two countries, a media report said on Saturday.
Days after Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called for an end to drone attacks in his country, unmanned American spy planes today unleashed 10 missiles at a compound in the volatile North Waziristan, killing at least 25 people, including civilians.
Pakistani army will hand over security responsibilities in the insurgency-hit Balochistan province to paramilitary forces within two months after battalion deployed in the restive Sui town returns to the barracks, its chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said.
Renowned United States investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has clarified that his article in The New Yorker never claimed that there was any agreement between Pakistan and the US over nuclear weapons, adding that an 'informal understanding' existed between the Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, over the safety of Pakistan's nuclear installations.Hersh's article created a huge furore in Pakistan
Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has contended that India had hardened its position on the Siachen issue, especially compared to the situation in 1989, when the two sides were "close to a resolution".
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.
Pushed on the back foot by the powerful military's criticism of some of the provisions in the US economic aid bill, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that the clauses of the Kerry-Lugar legislation are not binding on Pakistan.
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.
