Pakistan sacks 2 generals for corruption

ISLAMABAD. – The Pakistani army chief yesterday sacked six officers, including two generals, after they were convicted in a court martial for corruption, officials said. The move involved a lieutenant-general, a major-general, three brigadiers and a colonel, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.

The officials declined to elaborate on the trial, the corruption charges, but confirmed that the officers have not been sentenced to prison terms. Local media reported the officers were allowed to go home after being stripping off all military benefits, except for medical and pension benefits.

The rare move comes on the heels of calls on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign after his family members were named in the offshore accounts mass leak from Panama’s Mossack Fonseca firm.

Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz has owned offshore companies and one of the most expensive Mayfair London properties. One of his offshore accounts in the data is worth of 5,5 million British pounds, or about $7,8 million.

Sharif has agreed to set up a commission of inquiry under a Supreme Court judge but opposition leaders – specifically the cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan – have rejected this, demanding instead that a serving judge and white collar crime experts make up the commission.

Earlier this week, army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif said there should be an across-the-board accountability – a statement that was taken as ramping up pressure on the government of Prime Minister Sharif, who has had a history of uneasy relations with the military establishment.

Sharif is also said to have deep differences with the army over reviving peace efforts with arch-rival neighboring India. “By the grace of God, we’re clean,” Sharif said in a statement yesterday, referring to the calls for his resignation on corruption charges.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. – AP.

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