“Media hype over amendments in Pakistan Army Act is uncalled for,” the defence minister said in a tweet.

Asif’s statement comes after Dawn newspaper claimed that the government was cinsidering amendment to the Army Act, which would empower the prime minister to retain an incumbent army chief with a simple notification rather than through a complex constitutional process that also requires the President’s assent.

According to the proposed amendment in Section 176 titled ‘Power to make rules’, the word ‘retention’ shall be inserted after ‘reappointment’ in the current text of the law, while the word ‘resignation’ would be inserted after the word ‘release’.

The newspaper claimed that the proposed changes were approved by the Ministry of Defence last month and were set to land in a November 11 meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) but were canceled for unknown reasons.