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| 07 October 2004 | Thursday | 21 Shaban 1425 |
Afgan defends president in uniform
ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, on Wednesday claimed that Gen Pervez Musharraf had never promised to the nation that he would shed his army uniform on an appointed date.
Speaking at the local press club, the minister said that the constitution allowed President Musharraf to retain his COAS office and it was up to him to decide if and when to quit the army post.He said neither the United States nor the United Kingdom had objected to Gen Musharraf retaining the army chief's office.
He argued that Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan of PPP Parliamentarians had a clear stand on President's COAS uniform as he said that there was a lacunae in 17th Amendment under which there was a room left for the president to retain his COAS office through an act of parliament.
Mr Niazi claimed that the government-MMA talks on the LFO were deadlocked on only five issues while both sides had agreed on the remaining 24 items. He said the ARD components PPP Parliamentarians and PML-N had also participated in voting on some clauses of the 17th Amendment.
He said Gen Musharraf was not the only army chief to hold both offices together as his predecessors Gen Ziaul Haq, Gen Ayub Khan and Bangladesh President Gen Irshad also retained army chief's uniforms along with the office of the president.
To a query, he said that President Musharraf had been given the right to become president by parliament and the people. Responding to a question, the minister said the government was concerned about the lack of quorum during the lower house proceedings and a concrete policy was being contemplated to bring this trend to an end.
About Wana situation, he said that the real Jihadis had attained old age and those fighting security forces there were only terrorists who were involved in acts of terrorism in different parts of the country and bomb blasts in Karachi, Quetta and Sialkot were examples of their activities.
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