Zardari bars PPP leaders from issuing statements about Army

KARACHI: Taking notice of recent statements issued by various Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders about Army Chief’s criticism at governance issues, party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday barred all from issuing anymore such statements.

Rukhsana Bangash, the political secretary of the PPP co-chairman, said in a statement issued here that all party leaders have been barred from issuing any statement on the matter.

Only the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the PPP will decided about extending the party’s support to the government in this regard, said Bangash, adding that statements issued by some leaders thus far were not part of the party policy.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had said it would have been better if Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif had discussed the matter with PM Nawaz Sharif in the meeting held earlier.

He said the ISPR’s press release had even carried a message to India that country’s military and civilian leaderships were not on the same page.

“Gone are the days when dictators used to come into power through martial laws,” Khursheed said.

He said all the institutions should focus on their performance, adding, the governance would witness improvement only when the system was allowed to function consistently.

PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said the ISPR’s formal press-note was far-reaching, as it said the army had achieved and had been achieving its targets under the NAP, while the government was unable to do so due to bad governance.

“Poor governance can be in the judiciary, parliament and the armed forces and this can be pinpointed, but there has to be a way of doing so,” he noted during yesterday’s session of the Senate.

Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan said he was extremely disappointed by the performance of the government but would stand by the prime minister. He said there was corruption and bad governance, but the ISPR had no right to issue such a statement against the government.

He contended that the army chief should have talked to the prime minister instead of raising the issue of governance at the public level.

“It is unfortunate that Mehmood Achakzai spoke on this issue in the National Assembly but no one from the ruling PML-N had the moral courage to speak up. We will stand with you when there will be none on your right and left,” he said to the prime minister.