PPP disowns Zardari’s statement on COAS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday, denying the party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s statement over the army chief’s retirement, announced to investigate where the controversial statement had come from.

In the local media, a statement was attributed to former President Zardari on Tuesday in which Zardari stunned his admirers and critics alike when he termed the decision of Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif of not taking an extension in service ‘premature’. Zardari’s statement sparked debates on private TV channels. Critics called it a volte-face to his January’s statement in which he hailed General Sharif’s decision.

PPP offices in Islamabad and Karachi said the statement was not issued by them. Khursheed Shah stated that appointment and retirement of the army chief was a constitutional matter and unnecessary debate over the issue must be stopped. Shah was talking to media persons after granting Rs5 million fund to the National Press Club here.

PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Nafeesa Shah were also there. When asked about the Zardari’s statement, PPP leaders said that the party had kicked off an inquiry about the statement being associated with the former president.—Originally published in The News