Ministers believe in dignity of army

ISLAMABAD: Despite the fact that a few in media are trying to link a sentence of ISPR statement with recent statements of federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Khawaja Asif, both ministers always hold institution of army in high esteem and their recent remarks were specifically pointed towards person of Musharraf, chief of political party APML.

Khawaja Saad Rafiq, federal minister for railways, while talking to The News said that he endorses statement of army chief that dignity of institution of army must be preserved adding that it is not the duty of army chief only rather it is the duty of the whole nation to protect respect, prestige and pride of the institution of armed forces of Pakistan. He said that in fact Musharraf is a person who has brought disrepute to the institution of army more than anyone else.

Saad said that only those are negatively linking his statements with the ISPR’s who want save the Musharraf. He said Musharraf is a politician and heads political party APML and his party workers, mostly lawyers, are playing dirty games to make institution of army controversial by making such linkages in their bid to save Musharraf.

Saad Rafiq said that his present point of view about Musharraf is same as it was in 2000, in 2002 or in 2008 and it will always remain same. He alleged that Musharraf has brought a bad name to the institution of army and had defamed the institution. Saad said that in his statement he only discussed Musharraf and criticized his negative role of acting against the constitution of the country and institution of armed forces.

Saad said that the government and armed forces are on the same page on every issue and this specific issue of Musharraf has no link whatsoever with the institution of army or the government. He added that the link of the government with Musharraf’s issue is limited to ECL. He said that PML-N government considers that Musharraf’s name could not be excluded from the ECL as he is facing the allegations of treason, the most heinous crime described in the basic book of the country.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif always hold institution of army in highest esteem in his recent interviews and never gave any remarks which could be considered negative towards the institution of army in any way. The sentence under discussion in ISPR press release was specific to the institution of army. During many of his recent interviews in Geo News famous programme Capital Talk, Khawaja Asif praised countless sacrifices being rendered by the army jawans and officials and spoke about the dignity and prestige of the institution of army. However, at the same time he held that Musharraf brought a bad name for the institution of army and tried to devalue great sacrifices of army officials.

Khawaja’s statements also always praise army’s role in countering terrorism and he and many others consider that army and government must be on the same page on all crucial national issues for which acting against Musharraf by strictly following the constitution and law of the land is mandatory. While the ISPR press release is being misinterpreted by some, as a matter of fact, all the top sensible official of Pakistan Army as well as ISI want strict implementation of law and constitution in treason case against Musharraf so that distance between army and people could be minimised and the image of institution could be made much better which was disturbed because of some negative people like Musharraf.