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Khawaja Asif dismisses coup as protest looms
NEW YORK: Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif dismissed the possibility of a coup as opposition party leader Imran Khan prepares to lead one million people in a march through the capital this week.
Relations between the civilian government and military are “cordial and fine,” Asif said in an interview in Islamabad today.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in a 1999 coup, authorized the military in June to flush out Taliban militants in North Waziristan along the Afghan border.
“I don’t see any possibility of military intervention or any coup,” Asif said. “We have complete consensus, complete agreement on foreign policy.”
The prospect of unrest triggered the biggest fall in Pakistan’s benchmark stock index since 2009 as Sharif warned that demonstrations would threaten economic gains. A Taliban insurgency, power blackouts and political instability have damped economic growth over the past decade, prompting Sharif to seek an International Monetary Fund loan last year.
“We still have four years to go,” Asif said. “We have an agenda to complete.”
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk