General Asad Durrani's disclosures could leave considerable egg on the face of those currently wielding the stick in Pakistan, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
If Imran Khan delays his assent to General Bajwa's recommendations any further, it could imply he is taking stock of possible serious dissent within Pakistan's top army echelons, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'All Pakistan army chiefs follow a consistent line as far as India is concerned.'
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 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.
General Bajwa remains in command as army chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan did not play any role in the reshuffle, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Several retired and serving military officers attend Pervez Musharraf's funeral prayers.
New Delhi's decision not to call for a flag meeting underlines its conviction that the military cost will soon become too high for Pakistan.
Amid intense US pressure to deliver on the war on terror, the chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence has been shunted out of Islamabad and replaced by Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, considered close to the reform-minded Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
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".
'After General Raheel Sharif took on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, some sections of the military establishment may have felt unease as to whether the crackdown could be extended against friendlier 'non-State' actors like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.'
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
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.
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.
Barack Obama has said that he had ruled out involving Pakistan in the raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout because it was an "open secret" that certain elements inside Pakistan's military, and especially its intelligence services, maintained links to the Taliban and perhaps even al-Qaeda, sometimes using them as strategic assets against Afghanistan and India.
The recent postings and promotions of three-star generals in the Pakistan Army have propelled some of former chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's favourites to traditionally important positions
'Over the last year, Bajwa has created the environment to support bold moves on India. The ball is in India's court,' a senior Pakistan military officer tells Ajai Shukla.
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Pundits in Pakistan and also some western diplomats are predicting that the next army chief will be forced, partly by institutional pressure and partly by circumstances, to indulge in some tough talking with the civilian leadership. How the civil-military equation settles in this sort of a situation is something that will determine the future of Pakistani politics, and also Pakistan's relations with rest of the world, says Sushant Sareen.
Lt Gen Zubair Hayat appointed as Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff Committee.
Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership knew about Osama bin Laden's presence in the country much before the US Navy SEALs killed him in a raid in 2011, the nation's then defence minister has claimed.
The relations between Pakistan and the US nosedived this January after US President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to Washington but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.
The US needs to do three things to help the newly elected Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, says Stanley A Weiss
'It is not difficult for a Pakistan army chief assisted by the deep state to manipulate a situation.' 'Pulwama, Uri and Pathankot, all come to mind,' cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
With its new army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa set to take charge, Pakistan has asserted that focus will remain on country's eastern border with India, even as the US nudged Islamabad to keep the pledge of not allowing use of its soil for terror attacks against neighbours.
'General Bajwa is believed to consider the internal threats to Pakistan's security as far more serious than the bogey of the Indian threat.' 'This doesn't mean that he is soft on India, only that he is more rational and sensible than his predecessor who had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about India,' points out Pakistan expert Sushant Sareen.
'The decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment.'
'Already, there is talk of a possible extension for Raheel Sharif in the context of his perceived sterling, but incomplete work in the war against terror, as also the cleansing of crime and extortion networks in Karachi,' says Rana Banerji.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on formally charged Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Asif Yasin Malik for contempt of court after he failed to deliver on an undertaking for holding local body polls in cantonments across the country.
Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz brings to New Delhi a newfound Pakistani confidence, stemming from its leverage in Afghanistan, says Ajai Shukla
"We want good ties with all neighbours including India and Afghanistan," he told the Senators.
The United States drone attack that killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has done "serious damage" to the Islamabad's efforts for a dialogue with militants, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday.
Experts trace the reasons for the 26/11 attacks to the Pakistan's military interest in three key areas: Kashmir, Afghanistan and nuclear armaments.
The verdict was announced after the government submitted a 'new summary' to extend the service of 59-year-old Gen Bajwa.
Reacting to the embarrassing development, Khan chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting and took back the notification to extend services of General Bajwa.
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.
Through its early days to the 1980s, Pakistan sought to expand its sphere of Islamic influence through Afghanistan to Central Asia and got Pakistani citizens recruited in the Afghan government institutions in the 1990s when the Taliban were power. Now, it is looking eastward through India to Bangladesh and Myanmar to establish an imaginary caliphate.
Gen Sharif had earlier promised to bow out at the end of his term in November this year.
'A resurgent Jaish could be a reflection of the Pakistani security establishment's view that with the region moving ever closer to a post-US Afghanistan, it is time to redirect attention to Kashmir.'
'A close look at the time-lines tells you that exactly as the back-channel negotiations were in their most crucial stage, "somebody" was planning the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai,' says Shekhar Gupta questioning Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's account of a peace deal with India.
After Modi became the prime minister, the Indo-US relationship has seen an upward trajectory, he said.
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