Pak flip-flop: advocate backtracks, says Taliban the real threat, not GHQ

Islamabad, Dec. 16 (ANI): In a latest flip-flop, the Pakistan government's advocate, Kamal Afzal has backtracked from his earlier statement, saying that the Taliban pose the actual threat to democracy in the country.

A day earlier, Afzal had told a 17- member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that both the Army Headquarter and the CIA were conspiring against the government and were a threat to democracy.

In an apparent volte-face, Afzal asked the apex court to edit his statement on General Headquarters from his remarks, saying: "I know that the current army chief is a gentleman."

He told the court that petitions challenging the NRO must be accepted immediately.

"Let the law take its own course. All pending cases, suspended because of the NRO, must also resume as soon as possible," The Daily Times quoted Afzal, as saying.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, after much fickling, has decided to debar Afzal from making any statements in or out of the Supreme Court unless he has specific sanction of the Federal Government.

Sources said that after consultations with other concerned authorities, Gilani assessed that Afzal's statement has embarrassed the government because no responsible authority had sanctioned Afzal to make such a controversial statement in the court. (ANI)