Nothing wrong with army chief commenting on the economy, Khursheed Shah says

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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.

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