Pervez Musharraf not a traitor, claims PPP

Pakistan People’s Party has said former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is not a traitor.

PPP’s Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said the party’s Prime Minister and ministers took oath from Mr Musharraf in 2008, so how could they call him a traitor.

“We want a continuation of Parliament and not war, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has some snakes up his sleeves. However, we will not go against Parliament come what may,” he said.

He claimed interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan wanted to defame PM Nawaz Sharif.

When asked about the claim of Ahmed Raza Kasuri, a close aide of Pervez Musharraf, who said the former military ruler went abroad under a deal with the Sharif government, Mr Shah said that so far no clarification has come from both sides.

“It is not the first deal and it is a coincidence that General Musharraf sent Mr Sharif abroad under a deal and now Mr Sharif allowed General Musharraf to go abroad under a deal,” he added.

Mr Shah said the Pakistan People’s Party did not declare General Musharraf a “traitor” but it was the Nawaz Sharif government that initiating the case under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He said the Pakistan Parliament should have been taken into confidence before removing the name of a person who was facing case under Article 6.