Take your words back, ‘N’ tells Zardari

Fuelling the already volatile political situation, President Asif Ali Zardari’s explosive speech at Naudero targeting PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has not only shattered the PPP’s own crafted policy of reconciliation but has also put the two conventional arch-rivals on the much-repented path of confrontational politics of the 90s as their top leaders ranted against each other in and outside parliament.
Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique reacted to President Zardari’s outburst and said the time had come for him to choose between the presidency and the PPP leadership as both could not go together, demanding the president to take back his ‘abusive’ words against the PML-N chief.
He said after such an “irresponsible speech”, the president was no more a symbol of unity of federation. “We are not wearing bangles,” he warned, reacting to the president’s threat that if he wished, he could block the PML-N chief’s entry into Sindh. “Jails and handcuffs are not new for us … take your words back and let the country move forward,” he added.
Insisting that the PML-N was not a supporter of the Taliban, Rafique said, “Those promoting corruption are supporters of Taliban.”
He said his party was not destroying the institutions or maligning the army. “We are opposed to the supremacy of the army… we did not talk against army in meetings with foreign delegates as revealed by WikiLeaks… we say openly and loudly what we want to say… this country cannot move forward with the supremacy of the military establishment,” he said, asking the president not to become a hurdle in the way of parliament.
As Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan announced outside parliament that the PML-N would contest elections on-one point agenda “get rid of Zardari-brand corrupt government”, former law minister Babar Awan defended Zardari’s speech and said, “The remarks passed by president against Nawaz Sharif were one hundred percent right.”
Addressing a press conference, Nisar said the army had got a new spokesman in Zardari for which the army should be congratulated.
“Now military needs no enemy as it has a friend like Zardari,” he said, adding the walls of the Presidency were witness to the language used by Zardari against army and its generals in first one and a half years of his rule. He said the division between the army on the basis of Islam and secularism would prove dangerous for the country.
Nisar said the nation had not forgotten the words Zardari used to utter against the army in the past.
To a question about the arrest of an army officer, Nisar said he was unaware of the details of the incident.
Later in a press release, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal said Zardari had damaged himself rather than the PML-N by making unethical personal attacks on Nawaz Sharif.
“He (Zardari) used the same language General Musharraf is using against Nawaz. The PML-N doesn’t believe in such dirty politics. We have an agenda of reform for the country before us to make Pakistan a strong democracy and make its economy dynamic and competitive and shall not be detracted by such undemocratic tactics.”
He said it would have been far better if Zardari had shed some light on the performance of his regime instead of targeting the media and Nawaz as both were trying to hold him accountable for the massive corruption.
Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, Babar Awan said Nawaz Sharif was on a mission to destroy the country’s institution.
“Nawaz Sharif has adopted a new way to hatch a conspiracy against national institutions and he is using his party’s elected representative against institutions,” he said.
He said it had become the PML-N chief’s habit, saying “he had also harmed the chief justice, the army chief and the president during his regime”.
He said Zardari’s remarks against Nawaz were hundred percent correct. He advised the PML-N to mend its ways and not to openly criticise national institutions.
“The elections campaign launched by PML-N has harmed the Kashmir cause,” he said adding that the upcoming elections would also decide the PML-N’s fate in Lahore.