The army has objected to allegations made by the prime minister against the army and intelligence chiefs [EPA]
Pakistan’s prime minister has dismissed the country’s defence secretary in a move likely to escalate tensions between his civilian government and the country’s powerful military.
Yousuf Raza Gilani’s decision comes against the backdrop of a scandal involving an unsigned memo that apparently sought US help in stopping a possible coup by the army following the killing of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil by US forces in May.
Pakistan’s supreme court has set up a judicial commission to investigate the memo.
Gilani’s office, in a statement on Wednesday, accused retired Lieutenant-General Naeem Khalid Lodhi of “gross misconduct and illegal action which created misunderstanding” between state institutions.
As part of the investigation, General Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, and Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, submitted statements to the supreme court in which they suggested the memo was part of a conspiracy against the army.
Lodhi was fired because of “gross misconduct and illegal action” relating to his role in submitting the statements to the supreme court, a government statement
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