Newly appointed federal minister Riaz Pirzada seconded or proposed former president Musharraf when the former dictator sought his re-election from the Parliament in 2007, showing he was one of the trustworthy associates of the military ruler.
Pirzada took oath as federal minister on Thursday after he failed to make it to Sharif’s cabinet in the first batch owing to some personal reasons.
Sources said his name was included in the first list but he could not make it at the eleventh hour.
It is an interesting coincidence that his induction comes at a time when the country is ablaze with the sound and fury of debates over Musharraf’s trial following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s undertaking that the former military chief would be tried for treason under article 6 of the constitution.
Sharif’s speech on the National Assembly floor triggered a storm in the country for all its destabilising signs.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif the other day, on the floor of Punjab Assembly, said Musharraf was being tried for imposing emergency in the country in 2007 and not for toppling Nawaz Sharif’s government on October 12, 1999.
“He detained judges in 2007 to ensure his safe passage to the presidency through re-election,” Shahbaz Sharif added.
Interestingly, Pirzada was a part of the team that was ensuring for Musharraf, the “safe passage” he wanted.
Already, federal minister Zahid Hamid had to part with his favourite portfolio in the cabinet for his closeness to Musharraf, especially after it became known that it was in fact Hamid who was the moving spirit behind the 2007 emergency.
At present, the premier has not allotted the coveted law ministry to anybody else, probably in the hope of assigning it to Hamid again, when the controversy subsides sooner or later.
A political leader recalling the story of Musharraf’s re-election described an interesting incident. “It was a tense day with lawyers on the move. They had even surrounded the election commission’s office knowing Musharraf was due to submit his papers there. Musharraf’s political team wanted the filing of nomination papers to go through in a smooth and trouble-free manner. So all those who proposed or seconded him, from all provinces, were ordered to gather at the presidency instead of going to the commission’s office on their own; and hence face embarrassment at the hands of agitated lawyers. From the presidency, we left for the election commission office on a bus. Riaz Pirzada was sitting next to me as either ‘proposer’ or ‘seconder’,” he said.
Another Mush aide joins Sharif’s cabinet
