Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday extended the term of the country's Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, for three more years to ensure "continuity in the military operations against extremists and terrorists", dpa reported.
Gilani said late Thursday in an address to the nation that he had relaxed the rules to give Kayani more time to lead the country's more than 500,000-member, nuclear-armed military, in light of the active role the general had played in the war against terrorism.
Gilani said that he reached the decision in consultation with President Asif Ali Zardari.
Kayani took over as military chief after his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf, surrendered his post in 2008 amid national and international pressure to end his more than eight-year military rule.
A chain-smoker and known favorite of the United States, Kayani has led the Pakistani military assaults on Islamist insurgents in the lawless tribal region along the Afghan border and adjoining Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province, formerly known as North-Western Frontier Province.
Hundreds of militants have died in the fighting that is seen by many Western allies of Pakistan as limited in scope, as government forces take on only the rebels who target official and civilian targets inside the country. Those conducting attacks across the border on US-led international forces into Afghanistan are spared.
Despite Pakistan's democratic government, many analysts believe that the powerful military, which ruled the country for more than half of its 63-year existence, still dictates both internal and external security and foreign policy.