LAHORE: Another federal minister has joined the debate about trial of retired General Pervez Musharraf for high treason and declared that the former army chief is a politician now and the army has nothing to do with his case.

“Retired Gen Pervez Musharraf is the head of a political party. He is a politician and he is being tried in the treason case as a politician,” Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said to reporters here on Saturday.

“The army has nothing to do with the Musharraf case. This case is unnecessarily being linked with the army.

“Those conspiring against the political system are the enemies of Pakistan. Such elements are trying to create political crisis in the country and we cannot compromise on this,” he remarked.

Since Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq made some hard-hitting comments about Mr Musharraf, their colleagues in the cabinet have been clarifying that they had not uttered “a word against the army”.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid also dismissed the reports about any differences between the Nawaz government and the army. As the All Pakistan Muslim League demanded resignation of Khawaja Asif for his diatribe against Mr Musharraf, the information minister said there was no demand from the army to send the defence minister packing.

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has called for action under the Constitution against the PML-N ministers for what he called defaming the army.

Answering a question, Mr Iqbal said the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance had been framed keeping in view the extraordinary law and order situation in the country.

He said the government had started talks with the Taliban for peace. “Operation (against militants) can also be started, but then it will be very difficult to backtrack,” he said.