Posts Tagged ‘army’

Army to play constitutional role: COAS

107th Corps Commanders’ Conference was held at General Headquarters here on Thursday. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the meeting.

According to ISPR press release the Chief of Army Staff expressed his satisfaction on the conduct of peaceful elections. He thanked all segments of the society in extending their full help to Pakistan Army. He reaffirmed that Army fully stands behind the democratic process and is committed to play its constitutional role in support of the elected government. (more…)

General Kayani to appoint new ISI chief

Pakistani army chief General Parvez Kayani is appointing a new head of military intelligence, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, the first major reshuffle in the military since President Pervez Musharraf quit the army.

Newspaper reported that Major-General Muhammad Asif, who served as Pakistan’s defence attach in Russia, is replacing Major-General Nadeem Ijaz as director general of Military Intelligence (MI).

Ijaz has worked as head of MI for more than three years, the normal length of service. MI and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) are the Pakistani military’s two main security agencies.

Military spokesmen were not immediately available for comments.

A month before his retirement from the army, Musharraf appointed Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj, a former head of MI and his former military secretary, as director-general of ISI.

“Obviously, as time goes by, he (Kayani) will be appointing people of his choice, those who are professionally sound and also enjoy his confidence,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst.

“At this time, these assignments are extremely vital for the reason that they are also facing internal insurgency as the greatest challenge,” he said.

Kayani has taken several steps to keep the military out of politics including ordering all officers out of posts in the civil service, and barring officers from meeting politicians

Pakistan tests nuclear-capable missile Ghaznavi Hatf III

Strategic Missile Group (SMG) of the Pakistan Army’s Strategic Force Command (ASFC) on Wednesday conducted successful training launch of Ghaznavi (Hatf III) Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM).

The launch was conducted at the conclusion of annual field training exercise of a Ghaznavi Missile Group. With this launch, ASFC also concluded its highly successful winter collective training, wherein, various Missile Groups conducted firing of live ballistic missiles under realistic operational environment.

This was the third consecutive test by ASFC Troops in recent weeks. Earlier two other SMGs had conducted successful launches of Shaheen-1 and Ghauri ballistic missiles. The Ghaznavi Missile has a range of 290 km.

The field launch exercise was witnessed by caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, senior military officers and scientists.

Addressing troops in the exercise area, the prime minister congratulated them on achieving excellent training standards of professional readiness. He said that the nation is proud of its strategic forces and scientific organizations for having developed and operationalised a strong nuclear deterrence capability.

The prime minister reiterated that Pakistan stand for peace in the region.

He said that peace comes from strength whereas weakness invites aggression. The Pakistani Government is fully committed to retain a strong conventional and unconventional deterrence and will meet all the needs of a strong national defence.