LAHORE – Condemning Shahbaz Sharif’s demand of involving judiciary and the army in the politics, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab has termed the All Parties Conference (APC) proposal ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic’. President PPP Punjab Chapter Imtiaz Safdar Warraich at a news conference at Lahore Press Club the other day urged Shahbaz to withdraw his call and said his thoughts were a ‘reminder of General Ziaul Haq ‘s black era’. Warraich said, “Sharifs have always had a history of conflict be it the political parties, the army and the judiciary”.
He cited PML-N’s past tussles with chiefs of army staff including General Asif Nawaz, General Jahangir Karamat, General Ali Quli Khan,Pervaiz Musharraf and with Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari and the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah.
Warraich said that Shahbaz proposal was anti-democracy and that under the Article 6 of the constitution, such demands were ‘subversion and tantamount to treason’. The president PPP Punjab said since the 10 years ban on Nawaz Sharif’s active politics under Musharraf-Saudia Arbia deal was over, the PML-N leadership was looking to ‘sources of power other than the people’.
However, he said, a proposal of calling an APC on war on terrorism was under consideration. He said that PPP government had no differences with either army or the judiciary and that all the institutions must work within in their constitutional boundaries. He criticised Punjab government for removing security from slain governor Salman Taseer’s family residence. On the occasion, PPP provincial office bearers including General Secretary Sami Ullah Khan, Deputy General Secretary Usman Malik, Finance Secretary Aurangzeb Barki, Dr Fakhar , Hafeez Ur Rehman Malik and others were present.
Later Imtiaz safdar Warraich along with other Punjab party leaders visited PPP leader Arshad Ghurki at National Hospital and prayed for his early recovery. They also condoled with him over the sad demise of Khalid Ghurki and later visited PPP Lahore President and Federal Minister Samina Ghurki’s residence to condole Khalid Ghurki’s death.
