Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif has dismissed 12 officers, including two generals, on corruption charges, local media reports said on Thursday, quoting unidentified sources.

There was no immediate confirmation of the reports from the military’s Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) department.

The reported sackings came two days after the army chief, in a statement released by ISPR, called for “across-the-board accountability” to root out corruption from the country.

The reports on private television channels said the dismissed officers included a lieutenant general, major-general, five brigadiers, four colonels and a major.

General Raheel Sharif had on Tuesday said: “Across-the-board accountability is necessary for the solidarity, integrity and prosperity of Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s armed forces will fully support every meaningful effort in that direction, which would ensure a better future for our next generations.”

The army chief had cautioned that the ongoing war against terrorism could not be won unless corruption was uprooted from the country.

His remarks came at a time when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is facing pressure from political opponents for an independent probe under the country’s sitting chief justice into the Panama Papers scandal.

Some 220 Pakistanis, including Nawaz Sharif’s three children, have reportedly been named in the massive leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm on offshore assets of the world’s elite.

The prime minister rejected any allegations of money laundering and in an address on April 5 said he would set up a commission under a retired Supreme Court judge to conduct a probe.

The opposition dismissed the move, and the prime minister on return this week from a visit to London for medical check-up resumed efforts for evolving a probe mechanism with government-opposition consensus.

The media reports said following an investigation conducted on the orders of the army chief, the charged officers were asked to return all earnings accumulated through corruption.

According to the reports all perks and privileges of those sacked officers have been withdrawn except for pensions and medical facilities.

Meanwhile, prime minister chaired a special meeting of federal ministers, advisers and special assistants on Thursday in Islamabad to discuss the political situation.

The official media quoted Nawaz Sharif as saying those trying to create instability in the country and hinder the path of progress and development would never succeed.

“With God’s grace our hands are clean. We have faced ruthless accountability in the past too, with success,” the prime minister said.

“The nation is focused on economic progress and prosperity of the country and will not let anyone create any obstacle in the way,” the chief executive said, in apparent to opposition uproar over the Panama leaks.

President Mamnoon Hussain, talking to a group of civil servants who called on him, said corruption was eroding the foundation of the country and urged civil servants to ensure graft-free governance.