Tribune’s Gamechangers 2011: Ashfaq Pervez Kayani

For not overthrowing the civilian government.

Pakistan’s 60-year-old Chief of Army Staff general Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has been in the spotlight this year for various reasons, but thankfully not for overthrowing the civilian government.

The military’s competence was questioned when a team of US SEALs violated Pakistani airspace to kill Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad and went undetected by radars on the Pakistani border. But Kayani showed the military’s might when an attack on a Pakistani checkpost by US forces left 24 soldiers dead after he said the army will retaliate if it comes under attack by coalition forces.

Quote of the year: "The men and women of the Pakistan Army are performing their duty of defending Pakistan in accordance with the oath they took. They will continue to do so with the support and prayers of their countrymen, regardless of the cost."