PML-N says legislation on army chief’s extension won’t be easy

Tariq Butt

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has cautioned that legislation on the extension of service of Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa will not be easy in parliament if the hostile attitude of the Imran Khan-led government towards the opposition continues.

“The way ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) is provoking the opposition, it is creating hurdles in the legislation on extension for the army chief. The government wants the opposition not to cooperate with it on this matter,” PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal told reporters.

He said that the prime minister after the Supreme Court’s verdict on the extension of army chief’s service declared the opposition unpatriotic and his ministers also launched a tirade against it. He said the PTI was also trying to make state institutions controversial.

“The PTI is trying to prove that Bajwa and the army are with it (PTI). The army and the army chief do not belong to any political party but the nation. So the premier and his party should refrain from giving this impression,” he said, adding that the PTI government cut a sorry figure in the world the way it mishandled the matter of the army chief’s extension in the Supreme Court.

The apex court had on Thursday allowed extension/reappointment of Bajwa for another six months and asked the government to determine the tenure, terms and conditions of the service of the army chief through legislation within the six-month period.

Iqbal said the PML-N will finalise its action plan in consultation with the party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif after receiving the detailed verdict of the apex court.

This is the first reaction on the matter by the main opposition party. The PML-N appears to have categorically told the government, especially Imran, to change their attitude if they want a “smooth sailing” on the legislation on the army chief’s tenure extension.

“The other major opposition party — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — has the same complaint. With no visible change of Imran’s attitude towards the opposition especially stopping of his rant of thief and corruption it will not extend the hand of cooperation to the government,” another PML-N leader said.

The PML-N also believes that the way the government made the extension of the army chief’s tenure controversial now it is going to make the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) disputable.

“The government is deliberately creating a crisis over the appointment of the new CEC to save its skin in the foreign funding case,” Iqbal said, adding that there had been a complete consensus among the opposition parties to get rid of this “inept and incompetent” government that triggered a worst economic crisis in the country and to push for midterm polls in 2020.

He said since the “driver” of the country was highly incompetent and a change in the civil and police bureaucracy would not help improve the governance.

Meanwhile, Imran once again made it clear that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will complete his term.

During one of the meetings with the Punjab ministers and members of the provincial assembly (MPAs), Imran said that he knew everyone sitting here wanted to become the chief minister, but he would continue standing with Buzdar. “Those aspiring to replace Buzdar should wait for the next four years.”

He said Buzdar was neither living in palatial houses nor spending Rs800 million per annum on his personal security. “The reforms implemented during the PTI government’s tenure have never happened before in Punjab. We need to hold seminars and publicise the reforms implemented in Punjab,” he said.

Imran said his government had fought with the “mafia” during the past 15 months and survived. He said although the “mafia” and opposition parties were sure that the PTI government would not survive beyond a few months, but “Pakistan has come out of the crisis and good times are round the corner.”

The prime minister said the government in consultation with former bureaucrats had gone through a rigorous exercise for three weeks and posted bureaucrats at all positions on merit.