LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party on Wednesday submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding the federal government should give extension to army chief Gen Raheel Sharif.

PPP MPA Khurram Wattoo filed the resolution in the assembly secretariat, saying the country was facing worst situation and the armed forces were trying their best to root out the menace of terrorism.

Under these circumstances, he said, the government should rise above the politics of expediency and back the armed forces in war on terror.

The resolution said the announcement by Gen Raheel that he didn’t want extension in his tenure was commendable but “this house asks the federal government to give him (Gen Raheel) extension in his service” in national interest.

The PPP resolution came a day after the party’s co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari termed the decision of Gen Raheel to not seek extension ‘premature’. It stressed the need for continuity of the military leadership as the country was passing through a “difficult phase”.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2016