As tension mounts in the power corridors over the Memogate scandal, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentarians have started advising the party’s central command to quit the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government as they believe that the Chaudhrys’ loyalty to PPP’s central command could cost the PML-Q dearly.
At a time when PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is defending the PPP and President Asif Ali Zardari saying the memo controversy is baseless and being used to destabilise the civilian government, PML-Q’s senior parliamentarians Talib Nakai and Amir Muqam demanded the party’s central command break PML-Q’s alliance with the PPP.
Nakai, who is the chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, told Pakistan Today that the time had come for the PML-Q’s top command to revise its decision of forging an alliance with the PPP. “If Hussain Haqqani’s connection to the memorandum sent by Mansoor Ijaz to Mike Mullen is proved, the PML-Q should waste not a minute in quitting the coalition government,” Nakai said.
Questioning the PPP’s credibility, Nakai said how could the PPP’s top brass be sincere to the PML-Q when it had compromised on national security. “If a party can put national security and integrity on stake, how can we expect that it will honour its commitments made with a coalition partner?” he questioned. Nakai said no parliamentarian, irrespective of party affiliation, could overlook the memo issue as it was a direct attack on Pakistan’s security. “The PML-Q leadership should reconsider the party’s alliance with the PPP… the rulers will also be responsible for the memo if Haqqani proves to be guilty as he was President Zardari’s trusted man,” he said.
Nakai said the PML-Q had joined the PPP-led coalition government on certain conditions and the PPP leadership had promised the PML-Q that its advice would be followed. “After the lapse of six months, nothing has improved on the ground as we see the same bad governance as it was before the PML-Q shook hands with the PPP,” Nakai said. “I am also against a planned seat adjustment deal between the PPP and the PML-Q,” he added. The PML-Q should start preparations for the next general elections as an independent party, he said.
Amir Muqam, a PML-Q MNA and the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter president, also demanded the Chaudhrys quit the coalition government if the PPP’s top command’s involvement in the memo scandal was proved. “Nothing is above national security… if Hussain Haqqani’s connection with Mansoor Ijaz’s memo is proven, the PML-Q should part ways with the PPP without any hesitation,” he said, adding that the PML-Q workers could not tolerate the party’s alliance with forces that were involved in a conspiracy against the state. He said he had opposed the PML-Q top command’s decision to forge an alliance with the PPP to begin with. Nosheen Saeed, another PML-Q MNA, also supported the idea of PML-Q parting ways with the PPP if the government’s involvement in the scandal was proven. “It is out of the question for the PML-Q to remain associated with a government that is conspiring against its own institutions… if Haqqani and the PPP leadership’s connection with the anti-Pakistan memorandum is established, we must not wait a minute to quit the ruling coalition as no democratic party can compromise on national security,” she said.