Kayani rules out military takeover

Calls the speculation as bogey to divert the focus from real issues

FILE- In this Nov. 28, 2007 file photo, Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani attends change of command ceremony in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Pakistan's prime minister Thursday, July 22, 2010 extended the term of army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for three more years, ensuring continuity at a crucial point in the country's terror fight as well as the U.S.-led campaign across the border in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

Pakistan's Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday said his force would back democracy and dismissed speculation of a military takeover as “misleading,” saying they are being used as a “bogey” to divert the focus from “real issues.”

The statement came a day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned that conspiracies were being hatched to “pack up” his democratically elected government. cognisant

The Army chief “reiterated that the Pakistan Army would continue to support democratic process in the country“.

“The Army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities,” an army statement on Friday quoted Kayani as saying during his visit to the forward posts in Mohmand and Kurram tribal regions.

However, Inter-Services Public Relations' statement said: “He [Kayani] strongly dispelled the speculation of any military takeover and said these are misleading and are being used as a bogey to divert the focus from the real issues.” The statement did not elaborate what the “real issues” were.

Gen. Kayani emphasised that the issues of national security must be considered on merit alone. “Irrespective of all other considerations, there can be no compromise on national security.”