Lahore: A petition filed in a Pakistani court
has asked it to order government to confer powers of commander
-in-chief of the armed forces on Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani after withdrawing them from President Asif Ali Zardari,
claiming that authorities were shifting to military the whole
responsibility for the bin Laden raid.
Lawyer Rana Ilamuddin Ghazi filed the petition on behalf
of a citizen, Chaudhry Muhammad Siddique, in the Lahore High
Court yesterday.
The petition claimed that the government was shifting the
whole responsibility for the US operation that killed Osama
bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2 to the military.
The petition said that had the government ordered the
Army to retaliate against the US raid, it would have been
impossible for the Americans to carry out such an operation on
Pakistani soil.
The petition contended that the Army should not be under
the control of the government so that it (the Army) could take
independent decisions against any violation of the country`s
borders.
Since there has been unprecedented outrage against the
military in the wake of the US raid, the petition appears
to be part of a campaign to support the Army.
PTI
