Former PM Gilani says govt violating deal under which former dictator resigned from president’s office in exchange for safe passage
Corroborates Mag Gen Athar Abbas’s claim that Gen Kayani delayed NWA operation
In a revelation that it likely to leave the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government red-faced, former prime minister and senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday claimed that the government was violating the deal under which former military dictator Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf tendered his resignation from the president’s office in exchange for a safe passage.
The deal, Gilani claimed, was made between the PPP, PML-N and the Establishment.
Addressing a press conference at Bilawal House, Gilani said, “It was decided to give Musharraf a safe passage without any hurdles. The PML-N leadership had also endorsed this idea.” He added that all cases against the former military dictator by the PML-N were a “bad omen”.
“All those who were part of the negotiations with the Establishment on Musharraf’s departure should abide by the agreement,” said Gilani.
Sources told Pakistan Today that Gilani’s revelation and the “differences” reported between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the release of the former president showed that the ruling party had been pushed into a corner by almost all major political forces.
It has been reported earlier that Chaudhry Nisar was “unhappy with the prime minister for not fulfilling promises made to the top leadership of the military establishment on the early release of Gen (r) Musharraf”. The assurances in this regard had reportedly been conveyed to Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif through Nisar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
PPP WON’T LET ANYONE DERAIL DEMOCRACY:
The former premier also said that political forces, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, should avoid hatching conspiracies to derail the democratic dispensation.
“Let us join hands to strengthen democracy,” he said, adding that the PPP has difference with the PML-N government on a number of issues but it supports democracy and will let the government complete its five-year term.
KAYANI WANTED TO GIVE CALL FOR NWA OPERATION:
Gilani also endorsed former Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Athar Abbas’s claims that the North Waziristan operation was delayed due to former army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s reluctance.
Gilani said that the reason the PPP government did not launch an operation in North Waziristan during its tenure was because Gen Kayani insisted that the decision was his own.
“After the Swat operation, I had held meetings to determine the action in North Waziristan, but Gen Kayani wanted to take this decision on his own,” Gilani said, adding that Kayani told him to leave the Waziristan operation at the disposal of the army, which “would itself determine the date and time for any action”.
On June 30, Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC in an interview that “Gen Kayani thought he would be held accountable for sending troops into North Waziristan. And that is why he dilly-dallied on the operation due to which we wasted too much time and suffered losses.”
