PPP probing 'erroneous' statement on army chief extension attributed to Asif Zardari

Khursheed Shah says unnecessary debate on the matter should be stopped

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday denied its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari gave a statement over the retirement of army chief General Raheel Sharif and announced that it will investigate how it was released by its media cell.

The statement, which was attributed to Zardari by the media on Tuesday, had termed Gen Raheel’s announcement that he would not seek an extension as army chief ‘premature’.



Talking to reporters in Islamabad, PPP leaders Khursheed Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Nafisa Shah said the statement did not come from Zardari himself. Shah termed the army chief’s retirement a constitutional matter and called for stopping unnecessary debate on the issue.

PPP Senator Saeed Ghani said only Farhatullah Babar is the official spokesman of Asif Zardari and no one else can issue a statement on behalf of the ex-president. “What happened is that someone met Zardari and attributed the statement to him,” he said, adding that it was a great blunder on the PPP media cell’s part to issue the statement without clearance. “The responsible person in this fiasco has been identified,” the senator said.

The PPP leaders stressed that the party is with the army in the war against terrorism and said Gen Raheel must be commended for earning good repute for both the military and the nation.

PPP offices in Islamabad and Karachi said the statement was not issued by them.



Meanwhile, PPP has filed a resolution in Punjab Assembly seeking an extension in the services of Gen Raheel. PPP MPA Khurram Wattoo told Daily Express that Gen Raheel’s services are commendable and his retirement would be premature.

The situation in the country demands that the army chief should not retire, Wattoo said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2016.