Kayani gets two-year extension in service

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President Zardari agrees to two-year extension to COAS Decision may be announced within 72 hours ​

Friday July 16, 2010 (1127 PST)

ISLAMABAD: The president has reportedly given his concurrence to extend the tenure of incumbent COAS for a minimum two year period, which could even be extended to three years effectively turning into a full new term, a highly reliable source told our sources.
According to the source, the announcement to this effect could be made as early as within the next 72 hours. Great significance is also being attached to the ‘unscheduled’ meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Presidency around 3pm Thursday afternoon. The army chief had also held a meeting earlier in the day with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who, according to an informed insider, has been a strong advocate for extending Gen Kayani’s term and may ultimately have succeeded in what was described as, “turning his boss slowly in the wind”.

Meanwhile, as expected, the official version is describing the army chief’s call-on on the president as being related to an exchange of views on national security matters in the backdrop of the ongoing visit of the Indian foreign minister but as another highly informed insider put it, “the army has already given its viewpoint exhaustively to the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and all relevant stakeholders and the COAS does not have to dart to the president and the PM to brief them a little while before the Indian FM is scheduled to call on them”.

However, sources said the army chief was not keen vis-a-vis any extension in tenure. They said he would consider if he receives the offer.

Political pundits had been predicting, and apprehending, some unsavoury ‘power’ games in the event of the Presidency desiring a change in military leadership in the midst of the ongoing war on terror and particularly so with the all important American allies also placing their bets on the professional calibre of the current man in the khaki saddle.

According to sources, the announcement could be made right after the wrapping up of the India-Pakistan ministerial dialogue and if that happens then it would, according to a political analyst, not only give a favourable fillip to the otherwise flailing fortunes of the president but also harbour significant consequences both for the political and the judicial landscape of the country.

Pakistan News Service - PakTribune