ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has stated that he will retire on 29 November.

As per a statement by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), General Kayani has said that institutions and traditions are more important than individuals.

"For quite sometime, my current responsibilities and likely future plans have been debated in the media with all sorts of rumours and speculations doing the rounds.

"The subject of being entrusted with new duties has also come up in several reports. I am grateful to the political leadership and the nation for reposing their trust in me and Pakistan Army at this important juncture of our national history," the statement read.

"As I complete my tenure the will of the people has taken root and a constitutional order is in place. The armed forces of Pakistan fully support and want to strengthen this democratic order," Kayani said.

"It is time for others to carry forward the mission of making Pakistan a truly democratic, prosperous and peaceful country that embodies the finest dreams our founding fathers had envisaged for us," the ISPR statement read.

Kayani's announcement comes after much speculation as to what future course of responsibility he would carry on.

Sources and aides close to Kayani said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wanted to make him head of a revamped and more powerful Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC).

One senior intelligence official had said that Sharif planned to overhaul the JCSC, a largely ceremonial office, into a “central defence body” by restoring its command over the entire military establishment and giving it additional powers.