Declaring that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif was desperate to destabilise the existing democratic system with the Senate election approaching, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday said it did not suit a national leader to provoke the masses to come out on to the roads by bypassing democratic options available with him to make his point.
Gilani’s hard-hitting statement came in an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today and Samaa TV with host Arif Nizami. During his 40-minute no-holds-barred interview, Gilani seemed more than willing and forthcoming to share his thoughts on the present politics with PML-N, making ominous noises for the PPP-led government looking set to win the March Senate elections.
And it was a talk of a clear-headed leader who knew his ropes and cards fully well, not ready to look back or threatened by the tough talk of his opponents, expressing his views quite candidly, laced sometimes with bitterness as if reminding the Sharifs of the spoils they gained since the start of the new democratic setup. But, doing so, he never lost his balance that nicely sits with his party’s politics of reconciliation that has mainly kept the government afloat.
Fully satisfied with his party’s prospects in the Senate election, an upbeat Gilani said, “Opposition is out to pre-empt this by hook or crook, no matter what it takes. First Nawaz tried to exploit the issue of load shedding, asking the people to come out on the roads. His party leaders led protests in Punjab to stoke anger against the government. Now the government has brought an end to load shedding, what is the opposition left with to provoke the people?”
He also questioned the PML-N’s opposition to the two-day holiday decision of the federal government. “If the judiciary and the army are observing the holidays why is the PML-N making this an issue?” Gilani played down the possibility of resignations by PML-N leaders before Senate election as rumours; saying party leaders and MNAs would not stand by the decision. “I am in contact with PML-N MNAs on a regular basis and they will oppose any such decision,” he said. The PM advised Nawaz to observe caution and adopt democratic options available with him in the constitution to make his point before the public.
He said the opposition could not befool the people as they knew fully well their motives. He said Nawaz himself stated that no single party could provide solution to the problems faced by the country. “It requires collective wisdom. If Nawaz can turnaround things overnight, who is stopping him? The federal government has allowed the provinces to undertake projects in the power sector.
He is free now to initiate projects to provide electricity to the people of Punjab within the remaining two years of the government,” Gilani said. Countering allegations levelled by the opposition against PPP leaders and government functionaries, Gilani said, “What else the opposition can say other than painting the government negatively. I am witness to this practice ever since the creation of this country. If they really mean it, they should go to court. They even did not spare my son when the SC declared him innocent in the Haj scam.”
Gilani said the PML-N’s stance over the appointment of NAB chairman was misleading. “I myself consulted the leader of opposition on behalf of the president. I am revealing this for the first time today since the issue surfaced. President Zardari asked me to contact Chaudhry Nisar. When I contacted him, he (Nisar) said he would get back to him within two days. Later, I heard on the TV that the opposition rejected the proposal. They did this after apologising to Fasih Bukhari for falsely implicating him in a corruption scam.”
He said constitutionally speaking, the president needed to consult the leader of the house and leader of opposition before confirming the appointment of the NAB chairman. He said even a saint proposed by the president would not be acceptable to the PML-N. Gilani reminded Nawaz the promise he made during lawyers’ movement for the restoration of judges. “Nawaz assured us that the government will complete its term of five years if it restores the judges. Now I want to ask, who restored the judges?” Gilani said, adding that “I restored judges for which Nawaz is trying to take credit.”
“Could long marches and protests restore anybody or the chief justice? After all, the lawyers, judges including the chief justice, members of the civil society, political activists did their best for a long time, staging protests and pressing the government to reinstate the chief justice. But did they achieve anything? Did they get anything despite their protests? Nothing, I would say. It was the democratic government which released the judges on the very first day after its inception and then completed the job by reinstating them.” In another disclosure, he said that even before the long march started, the government had taken the decision in principle to reinstate the chief justice.
“The decision was made in a meeting in which General Kayani was also present. We were just waiting for the incumbent chief justice to retire before the reinstatement to make the transition a smooth affair. As such, the day Chief Justice Dogar retired, we reinstated the chief justice,” the PM said. “Let us imagine for a moment what could have happened to us if the judges were not reinstated despite all the pressure. At the most, we could have lost the power or our government. In that case, what was the guarantee that the judges would have been reinstated thereafter?”
Gilani asked. He counted the dividends of democratic system reaped by the Sharifs, especially the lifting of bar on becoming prime minister for the third time as envisaged in the Charter of Democracy. “I personally made sure to undo the bar on becoming prime minister for the third time and Nawaz Sharif is the biggest beneficiary of the changes made in the constitution, especially after the death of Benazir Bhutto.”
“It was my government that removed the constitutional restriction, when it had no relevance for us after the exit of Benazir Bhutto. We did it for the sake of upholding the legacies of Zulfikar Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and in pursuit of our reconciliatory policies,” he emphasised. Commenting on the March Senate election, he said, “March is a month of pleasant weather. The PPP will emerge as a single largest party in the Senate after the election. This victory will have a great impact on the next general election. No wonder the PML-N is desperate.”
Gilani said the Sharifs were mistaken if they were reading too much out of their victory in Sahiwal. “Tell me who won in Muzaffarabad, Multan, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala?” he asked. On PPP’s alliance with the PML-Q, he said while his party engaged parties and their leadership, the PML-N opted for turncoats. “We could have done this at the Centre, but we were never interested in any such arrangement for them being undemocratic,” he observed.
Gilani said political leadership needed to uphold democratic norms in their conduct. He said it was the result of the reconciliation policy that the PPP government was at the helm of affairs for the last four years. “This is something not even governments with two-third majority could achieve in the past,” he added. To a question on Imran Khan emerging as an important factor in the politics of Punjab and his threat to the PML-N government, he said, “Imran is my favourite player,” refusing to comment further. He was not ready to be drawn into the controversy generated by the revelations of Zulfiqar Mirza, replaying only with “no comments” to a question posed with reference to the PPP firebrand.
He said all the institutions, including the opposition, should play their role within their constitutional limits. The PM said if this did not happen, somebody else would benefit in the end. He said the global recession, war on terror and natural disasters like floods had badly affected the country’s economy. Gilani said the cabinet had already approved massive restructuring of public sector utilities. He said the government would launch Bhasha Dam shortly after successfully developing consensus among the provinces.
The PM said his government had no objection to Kalabagh Dam, provided all provinces were in agreement. The prime minister said relations between the two countries were getting back on track and heading in the right direction. He said using diplomatic channels, his government brought up Pakistan’s concerns with Washington. Gilani said the recently convened APC delivered a very strong message to the world that when it came to the country’s sovereignty, all stakeholders spoke with one voice. He said that Pakistan wanted a strong, secure and stable Afghanistan and Afghan president’s recent visit to India was pre-planned and had nothing to with recent developments in Afghanistan.
Gilani said it was a wrong perception that Pakistan had been isolated internationally or regionally “All major countries know Pakistan’s strategic importance,” he added.
Nawaz desperate to destabilise democratic system
