Pakistan PM firm on military comments
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s prime minister yesterday rejected a demand by the country’s powerful army chief that he clarify or retract his criticism of the army and the spy agency last week, likely raising tensions further in a festering row with the military.
“The prime minister ... is answerable to parliament,” Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters in the central city of Vehari. “I will not answer to a person. I am answerable to parliament.”
Gilani last week criticised Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and the director-general of the Inter-services Intelligence agency LieutenantGeneral Ahmed Shuja Pasha for filing court papers in a case involving a mysterious memo that has pitted the military against the civilian government.
In an interview with Chinese media, Gilani said the filings were “unconstitutional”, infuriating the military’s high command, who issued a stern press release on Wednesday.
Gilani further infuriated the army on Wednesday by sacking the defence secretary, retired Lieutenant General Naeem Khalid Lodhi, for “gross misconduct and illegal action which caused misunderstanding” between institutions.
Lodhi was the most senior civil servant responsible for military affairs, a post usually seen as the military’s main advocate in the civilian bureaucracy.
The unusually public sniping comes amid a roiling political scandal involving the mysterious memo.
The memo, allegedly drafted on the direction of former ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani, asked for US help in reining in the army, which the memo said was planning a coup.
When an American businessman revealed his role in writing and delivering the memo, the army was enraged. Haqqani was forced to resign, and “memogate” has locked President Asif Ali Zardari and the military in trench warfare ever since.
Gilani’s comments were in response to a journalist’s question about media reports on Saturday night that Kayani was infuriated by Gilani’s criticisms.
The army chief complained to Zardari and demanded that Gilani’s comments be clarified or withdrawn, a military source said on Saturday.
Gilani, however, showed no signs of backing down.
“What I said was not an accusation,” he told reporters. “We want there to be respect for the constitution, rule of law, and all institutions to work within their limits. I said just one thing, that rules and procedures were not followed. And that was the defence secretary’s fault, for which we removed him from his post.” — Reuters