Decision on COAS appointment legislation after consultations: Azma

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said the party will take a decision about the constitutional amendment regarding appointment/extension in tenure of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) through consultation within the party as well as the combined opposition.

“The PML-N will hold consultation within the party as well as the joint opposition in the matter of amendment to Article 243 of the Constitution,” said Azma Bokhari, PML-N Punjab information secretary while talking to The News in the backdrop of Supreme Court (SC) decision to allow six-month extension to the COAS, and refer the matter to parliament to legislate on the matter.

The SC, in its short order on Thursday, referred the matter to parliament to introduce legislation with regard to Army chief’s service under Article 243.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would require two-thirds majority in both houses of the parliament to amend any article of the Constitution, which puts the government and the opposition in a test, in an atmosphere of hostility between the treasury and the opposition in the parliament.

As the PML-N awaits detailed judgment, Azma said the party accepted Supreme Court decision pronounced in a short order. However, she emphasised that although the issue of constitutional amendment was six months away, it was parliament’s responsibility to adopt extreme care in framing the proposed amendment. She criticised Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI) government for making mockery of army chief’s extension, which embarrassed General Bajwa. “It is beyond comprehension that Prime Minister Imran Khan, with his whole legal team comprising Babar Awan, Farogh Naseem, Anwar Mansoor, Shahzad Akbar and others, could not make one summary correctly,” she said as she sees it an attempt to make the incumbent army chief controversial and malign the institution of army. About Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid’s claim that the PML-N was on board vis-à-vis extension to the COAS, she laughed it off as childish, saying that the federal government could not even know whether they were issuing the notification of reappointment or extension in service of the COAS.

PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said the matter of extension in service of army chief was an administrative matter. “We have always refrained from commenting on professional matters of the armed forces,” he added. PML-N Central Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb strongly responded to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tirade against the opposition in the wake of Supreme Court’s decision in the case of COAS extension, saying that the PTI government did not need any enemies in the presence of such an inept leadership.

In a series of tweets, she said Imran Khan’s ineptness was highlighted by the Supreme Court time and again, adding that the PM was trying to hide his lack of substance and ineptness by targeting the opposition. “Not a single penny’s corruption is proven against the opposition leadership,” she said, adding that the country’s stability was at risk due to incompetent and inefficient leadership.