- Urges the nation and political forces to unite and stand shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces in order to root out the menace of terrorism from the country.
KARACHI, February 23: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman and former president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said his party is standing with Pakistan Army and termed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif’s decision of refusing extension in service premature.
In a statement issued here, he said Pakistan was facing a multitude of different challenges as criminal gangs and separatists were hatching conspiracies to destabilize the country with the help of their foreign handlers.
The statement comes against the backdrop of news reports from earlier in the day regarding likely arrests of some high-profile personalities in the next few days in connection with the detained leader of People’s Aman Committee (PAC), Uzair Baloch.
According to sources, the arrested Lyari gangster has made some important revelations to the Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) formed to investigate Baloch, who is currently in Rangers’ custody for 90 days.
Sources said the Sindh Rangers have also summoned estranged PPP leader Zulfiqar Mirza, who was known to have close ties with the PAC leader when he served as Sindh home minister.
The PPP leader, in today’s key statement, further said that overall security situation of the country worsened in the aftermath of militant attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.
Expecting Army’s role in political matters, accountability and other national issues is not fitting, said Zardari. He urged the nation and political forces to unite and stand shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces in order to root out the menace of terrorism from the country. Zardari went on to say that eternal sacrifices and struggle of the Army should not be wasted due to political differences and opportunism. Terming the Army Chief’s decision of refusing to accept extension in service as before time, the PPP co-chairman urged the political leadership to take the right decision keeping the greater national interest and the country’s security in mind when the time is ripe.-Agencies
