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PPP senator says party has never supported extrajudicial killings
ISLAMABAD: Retracting his statement of calling suspended Malir SSP Rao Anwar a “brave child”, former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said that he “regretted his remarks” which were ‘misspoken’.
In an interview with a private media outlet Thursday night, Zardari came out in support of Anwar, calling him a “brave child” who survived the fight against “the militant wing of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)”.
“Out of total 54 SHOs, only one, Rao Anwar, survived the MQM when it came back into power,” Zardari had said. “54 SHOs participated in operation under General Naseerullah Babar, among which 53 were killed, only he survived.”
Speaking on Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case, he said that “everybody should step back and look at it again”.
However, a statement issued by party Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted Zardari as regretting the remarks for the offence they had caused.
Babar said: “The former President also acknowledged in another TV interview on Saturday that his words about Rao Anwar were indeed misspoken.”
He also denounced extrajudicial killings as “abhorrent, criminal and unacceptable” and called for bringing to justice all those involved in it, the spokesperson said.
Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are twins of a deepening curse. It is unthinkable that the Pakistan People’s Party would support it in any form or manner, the spokesperson said, adding that the party’s record in and out of the parliament is a testimony to it.