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Pakistani defense secretary sacked

11 January 2012 14:45 (UTC +04:00)

A Prime Minister House statement said the Defense Secretary was sacked â€œfor creating misunderstanding between the state institutionsâ€.

The move came minutes after the Pakistan army strongly reacted to Prime Minister Gilaniâ€™s remarks against Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI chief Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, said Pakistanâ€™s The Nation newspaper. Cabinet Division Secretary Nargis Sethi who was also the Principle Secretary of the PM has given additional charge of Defense Secretary.

The decision comes during intense friction between the civilian government and the powerful military over an unsigned memo that sought U.S. help in reining in Pakistan’s generals.

Distrust between civilian leaders and the generals has bedeviled the nuclear-armed South Asian country for almost its entire existence, with the military ruling for more than half of its 64-year history after a series of coups.

A senior military official said the latest tension was "very serious".