Responding to Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal's remarks that the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, should refrain from speaking on the economy, Opposition Leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah said everyone had the right to comment on the state of the economy.

"Even a common man has the right to speak on the economy, let alone the army chief," Shah said, in a reference to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa's analysis of the economy earlier in the week.

While addressing a ceremony near Sukkur district's Rohri, Shah said the government should let the army chief comment on the economy if he wants to because he is the commander of the armed forces.

"The Line of Control will also be safer if the economy improves, and if it worsens, the army will get weaker," he remarked.

If the chief of army staff has any misconceptions about the economy, the government should brief him on it, Shah added.

He warned that a confrontation between the institutions is dangerous: "A conflict between institutions would weaken them, which would weaken the state itself."

"Yesterday's incident is not ordinary and should open our eyes on where we are taking the country," the opposition leader said, in reference to the interior minister's remarks.

He said the issue over the finality of prophethood had been resolved by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto through the 1973 Constitution and when the issue came up again recently because of a mistake in the affidavit, it was amicably resolved.

However, Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law retired captain Safdar's remarks have complicated the already settled issue, he said.

Shah further requested religious scholars to refrain from taking up the issue as it could encourage people towards blasphemy.

Opinion

Editorial

Climate action
Updated 24 Mar, 2025

Climate action

Waiting for outside help to arrive will only aggravate our climate challenges and not mitigate them.
TB burden
24 Mar, 2025

TB burden

AS the world observes World Tuberculosis Day, we confront the sombre fact that despite being both preventable and...
Unsafe passages
24 Mar, 2025

Unsafe passages

WRETCHED social conditions add an extra layer of cruelty to ordinary lives. The UN’s migration agency says that...
Judicial disputes
Updated 23 Mar, 2025

Judicial disputes

Public perceptions of the institution’s independence and neutrality have taken a hit due to bitter, public spats between senior judges.
Biased proposal
23 Mar, 2025

Biased proposal

PAKISTAN’S tax system is extortionist, unpredictable and unsupportive of investment and economic growth. It...
JFK files
23 Mar, 2025

JFK files

THE latest cache of declassified documents from what are known as the ‘Kennedy files’ have not really impressed...