KARACHI: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday said there was no problem vis-à-vis the issue of extension in the tenure of the Chief of the Army Staff and the required procedure would be followed by the government.

“There is no problem in dealing with the issue regarding the extension of the Army Chief. Our government will adopt the required procedure on extension of the Chief of Army Staff,” said the railway minister while speaking to reporters at the Karachi airport upon his arrival to the city.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed the government to remain guarded regarding the legal matters; and the government would never do anything that could question the dignity of the superior judiciary.

“The courts in the country are free; and, there is no clash among the institutions,” said Mr Ahmed.

He rubbished the speculations vis-à-vis the stability of the present Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led federal government and stressed that Prime Minister Imran Khan would complete his full five-year tenure.

Replying to a question on the public meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party in his native Rawalpindi city on Friday (today) marking the 12th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Sheikh Rashid said he would welcome Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and all workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the garrison town where Ms Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack after addressing a rally in Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007.

He claimed ex-president Asif Zardari, who is admitted to a hospital in Karachi, was “trying to get a clean chit for Bilawal, but Bilawal Bhutto has been surrounded by the law”.

The minister maintained that the Imran-led government would manage to control all sorts of issues that at present were in the vogue.

Regarding political turmoil in neighbouring India, he said the Muslim Indians had taken to streets to bring revolution and that would not be possible for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sustain.

He feared that India could create problems on the border without provocation till March for which “everyone of us should remain alert”.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2019