The opposition parties firmly believe that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s rant against the army is a calculated move of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to sabotage the memo case hearing in the Supreme Court while the parliamentarians from the PPP’s allies, including the PML-Q and the ANP, have urged all state institutions to remain within their constitutional ambit to avert any mishap.
Lawmakers from both treasury and opposition benches also welcomed Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani’s statement in which he ruled out a military coup.
Commenting on Thursday’s speech of Prime Minister Gilani, Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said it was “uncalled for” and was aimed at sabotaging the hearing of the memo case. “It seems that the government is caught in an in awkward position over the memogate … now they want to spoil the investigations into memo case,” he said.
Ahmed said top government functionaries were aware of the fact that the army would not takeover “but the premier made the statement against the army just to confuse and complicate things in PPP’s favour”.
PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan said the prime minister’s statement was inappropriate, provocative and untimely. “Why is the government asking about Osama Bin Laden now…why had it ignored the issue when it happened, why did they not take action on the issue of PNS Mehran… you cannot ignore the issue of memogate just by saying it is a non-issue… the PM’s tirade is PPP’s plan to sabotage hearing in the memo case in the apex court,” he said.
Khan said the prime minister always made contradictory statements. “Sometimes he says that democracy is under threat… and sometimes says that the army and the civil government are on same page,” he said.
Reacting to the statement of General Kayani, the PML-N senator said the COAS was right that the government should not divert the peoples’ attention from real issues. The COAS also ruled out any possibility of a takeover.
PML-Q Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha said in his opinion all state institutions should exhibit patience to resolve the crisis emerging from the “memogate”. “I think all institutions are crossing their limits… the executive, the military and the judiciary should remain in their constitutional ambit as a confrontation between the institutions will ultimately harm our national interests,” he added.
Asked to comment on Gilani’s statement regarding ‘a state within the state’, the PML-Q leader said, “Everyone has its own state in Pakistan for the last 64 years… everyone in the country has been crossing its constitutional limits,” he added.
Senator Haji Adeel of the Awami National Party (ANP) said he and his party fully supported Gilani’s statement and would stand behind him. “There is no doubt that parliament is sovereign and every institution is answerable to it,” he added.
He said there was no doubt that investigations into the memo scam should be done, which were being carried out by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and the Supreme Court.
Adeel said according to his view, Thursday’s speech of the prime minister had nothing to do with the memo case investigations.
Zahid Kazmi, central leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and former spokesman to PTI Chairman Imran Khan said the PPP government was trying to sabotage transparent investigations into the memo issue.
“Now, after failing to resolve people’s problems, they are seeking martyrdom to win sympathies of the masses… but the people have understood PPP’s dirty politics and they will reject incompetent and corrupt rulers in the next elections,” he added.
He said the prime minister’s tirade against the army was mocking his previous statements in which he had been saying that the executive and the military were on the same page.
PPP-Sherpao President Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the statement of the army chief did not signify anything new and simply reiterated the army’s previous position again.
“But it could mean that confrontation was escalating and would result in casualty in one way or the other… the confrontation is still there. It is escalating and will certainly claim a casualty in one way or the other.
But we will not support any extra-constitutional or unconstitutional step”, Sherpao added.
Senator Zahid Khan said Gen Kayani’s statement was positive and it certainly addressed the apprehensions which Gilani had expressed on Thursday. He said no one wanted a compromise on national security.
MQM’s Abdul Qadir Khanzada welcomed the army chief’s statement, terming it positive. He said the statement also accorded highest priority to national security.
