LAHORE - Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) will be promulgated for two years due to extraordinary conditions prevailing in the country.
Talking to media persons here on Saturday, he said Pakistan Army is a respectable institution and everyone pays due respect to it, whose every jawan is considered as a national asset.
Ahsan Iqbal said it was everyone’s constitutional responsibility not to compromise on national integrity and stability and everyone should be dealt with evenhandedly.
Agencies add: Ahsan Iqbal said the treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf was not related to the army and the people who were attempting to link it to the army were betraying Pakistan. Iqbal said Musharraf’s legal team was trying to create problems in the country and this was the worst kind of conspiracy.
“Pakistan cannot bear these kinds of conspiracies,” he said, adding those trying to weaken the political system were enemies of the state. He noted conspiracies were being hatched to give Musharraf a safe exit.
“Former President Pervez Musharraf must face the law. He destroyed the institution of the army. If he does not want to face the law, it means he wants two laws in the country, one for the poor and one for the influential,” Ahsan Iqbal said.
He said plot to involve the army in Musharraf’s case was a serious crime and advised Musharraf not to put the armed forces’ prestige at stake for his personal gain as he was no more related to the army and was leading a political party.
“The army has washed the stains of Musharraf with hard work and struggle and to connect his case with the armed forces is disloyalty to the country,” he noted.
He said the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) would be promulgated for two years only due to extraordinary conditions prevailing in the country. When the circumstances became normal, it would be abolished.
The federal minister said an operation against extremists was not difficult; it could be started any time, but once the operation began, it would be difficult to step back, he asserted.
The prime minister wanted to achieve peace with minimum losses, he said. He added had Nawab Akber Bugti not been assassinated, the situation of Balochistan would have been different and there would have been peace in the province.
Ahsan said progress and development could not be achieved without a stable economy which required peace and political stability in the country, adding the economy was top priority of the PML-N government. He claimed stock exchanges had witnessed an upward trend and foreign investors were showing keen interest due to comprehensives policies of the government. Constructive and comprehensive policies of the government would help boost the economy and overcome the crises, he added.
The minister said, “Pakistan’s future is linked to the economy which can be put to the right direction through political stability, but some forces, which do not want to see peace, economic development and progress of the country, are trying to hatch conspiracies against national and political stability.”