Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) president Ijazul Haq on Sunday called on the government to revive the National Security Council so that sensitive security issues could be settled through consensus between the government, opposition and the army behind closed doors.
“Today, the government, the opposition and the military establishment are not on the same page on many issues related to Pakistan’s engagement in the war on terror… due to these differences, sensitive matters related to Pakistan’s security have become an open public and political debate, which is equally harmful for the institutions as well as the country,” Haq said in an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today.
He said the government should revive former president Pervez Musharraf’s National Security Council where the president, the prime minister, the opposition leader and the military’s top brass could develop a consensus vis-à-vis Pakistan’s engagement in the war on terror and other related issues.
Commenting on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s tirade against the army, he said it was not good for a man having stature of a statesman to address sensitive issues of security publicly. He said Nawaz should have not talked about Kargil and ISI in the AJK election campaign.
The former minister also floated a proposal of establishment of Judicial Accountability Bureau to root out the menace of corruption from the country. “NAB has become virtually dormant and we need a body independent of political influence to address corruption… NAB should be replaced with Judicial Accountability Bureau in which sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court be appointed… such a body can be established in the provinces with sitting and retired judges of the respective high courts,” he suggested.
Commenting on the current political situation of the country, Haq predicted the emergence of a third political force in the upcoming month of July saying, “Things will change in July and I see change in the next 90 days… if the government resists a positive change, the future of democracy will be in danger,” he said, adding that the nation needed a new mandate as early as possible.
He said the Muttahida Muslim League (MML) had become more effective after having Hamid Nasir Chattha as its steering committee convenor. “We replaced former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali with Chattha as the former had lost interest in the affairs of the MML after failing to woo Nawaz and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain over the idea of a united PML… The MML was not formed with only a single aim of uniting various factions of the PML… we wanted and still want to give the masses a third option,” he said.