Gilani Denies Plans to Fire Military Chiefs

Posted December 26th, 2011 at 1:35 pm (UTC-5)
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Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has denied media reports he was planning to fire the powerful chiefs of the army and the military intelligence agency, ISI.

The reports about Army General Ashfaq Kayani and ISI head Ahmad Shuja Pasha are the latest speculation about a rift between civilian politicians and the military.

Mr. Gilani said he was happy with the military chiefs' work.

Relations between the army and government have come under the spotlight over a reported memo allegedly seeking U.S. intervention to prevent a feared coup.

The existence of the document came to light in October, when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz wrote a column in The Financial Times accusing Ambassador Hussain Haqqani of writing the memo requesting U.S. assistance to prevent a military coup. The letter was reportedly sent in May to Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military official at the time. The ambassador was forced to resign.