HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said that present government has caused embarrassment to the office of chief of army staff because of naivety despite the fact that the high office deserves respect.

He said that the issue of extension of army chief has to be brought before parliament by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government.

He was speaking to journalists at the residence of divisional party leader on Saturday and said that Supreme Court had favoured the army chief by allowing six months’ extension to him.

He said that Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem did not brief the cabinet about Article 243 which did not have any mention of world “extension” for the office of COAS.

He said that the federal government messed up the issue without giving a serious thought to it thus badly harming the credibility of this important office.

He said that it was in fact arrogance of federal government that it did not read the Constitution. Now the matter would have to be tabled in the parliament regardless of the statement of Babar Awan that the matter did not require a constitutional amendment, he said.

He said that political parties would certainly take a position when this matter was brought to parliament.

He said that there was hue and cry over remark of a judge in the judgement against Pervez Musharraf in high treason case because such verdict had been given in the country for the first time. People must remember that Yahya Khan was also declared as usurper but the court did it in its verdict after his death.

He said that federal government was screaming over the remark and it did not know that the body of Cromwell was hanged in England which did not have a written constitution. He said that federal government had announced filing a reference against the judge in order to deprive him of his position. Article 6 had been defined with some clarity in the Constitution now and this judgement was in line with the Constitution.

He said that then army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf did not have right to impose emergency in Nov 2007. He said that this led to institution of this high treason case against him.

He said that death anniversary of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto would be observed in the infamous Liaquat Bagh this year where she lost her life and the party workers were deprived of their leader.

He said that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had become a true and able leader in the country while following the mission of his mother and maternal grandfather. Bilawal had devised a strategy against this incompetent government and he would emerge successful in leading people.

He said that people were burdened with price hike, hunger and joblessness.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2019