Army chief should avoid political statements: Aitzaz

Addressing journalists outside the Lahore High Court on Tuesday, he said that the court’s interim order was not applicatory and was similar to Article 58-2b which allows sacking elected representatives.He said that if the government or Army did anything that was against the judiciary, people would take a stand.He also said that the courts should only speak through just judgment and the COAS did not have the right to issue political statements.The Chief Justice had earlier asserted that weapons alone could no longer assure national security and that the Supreme Court was the absolute authority with regards to the national interests of state.Later, in a statement issued by the ISPR, Kiyani had said that no individual or institution had the monopoly to decide what was right or wrong in defining the ultimate national interest.He also said that the weakening of institutions and trying to assume more than one’s due role will set the country back.