Islamabad: Amid a tense standoff between Pakistan's civilian and military leadership, the government on Friday told the Supreme Court that it has no intention to sack the Army and intelligence chiefs who were accused of acting in an "unconstitutional and illegal" manner in the memo scandal.
Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry of the government's position while responding to a petition that had asked the apex court to restrain the civilian administration from taking any action against army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) head Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
Lawyer FK Butt, who filed the petition, had asked the court to direct the government not to take any steps against the Army and ISI chiefs like the recent sacking of Defence Secretary (retired) Lt Gen Khalid Naeem Lodhi by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Butt contended that, according to media reports, the government could sack the Army and ISI chiefs over the memo issue.
The Attorney General drew the court's attention to a statement on the issue by the Prime Minister and said Butt certainly had information about this statement.
He said the court should not rely on media reports as the petition was based on mere speculation. The Chief Justice directed the Attorney General to seek instructions from the government and to file a detailed reply on the matter in two weeks. The top judge further observed that the situation should "move towards an improvement".
Tensions between the government and the military reached a peak last week after Gilani said the army and intelligence chiefs had acted in an "unconstitutional and illegal" manner by filing affidavits on the memo issue in the apex court without getting the government's approval.
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