‘Imran’s claims are absurd’
The country doesn’t need confrontation
Ahsan Iqbal is widely considered one of the more rounded members of the Sharifs’ inner circle. Coming from a political family, himself politically active since his student days at UET, and a Wharton MBA to boot, he brings qualifications few of his comrades can rival. Perhaps because of his Ivy League education, he’s been tasked with the planning portfolio, which requires more long-term policy rethink than most other ministries. But he also figures on the government’s most important panels, like talking to dharna protagonists at the height of the protest. And most of the time, the N-league’s ‘conservative intellectual’ is an effective mouthpiece of the ruling party; his style of delivery, at least, being more refined than some of his friends and colleagues. He talked exclusively with DNA regarding the prevailing political situation.
Question: How do you see the political situation developing from the PTI rally?
Ahsan Iqbal: Though the situation is fluid right now and emotions are high on both sides of the political divide due to the PTI’s rally, we still hope that this heated environment would soon subside and sanity would prevail.
Q: Was there any back-channel movement to engage Imran Khan or his colleagues to diffuse tension ahead of the rally?
AI: PTI’s second-tier leadership is quite reasonable but unfortunately all their efforts were pre-empted by Imran Khan. We are in touch with the people like Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Arif Alvi and Asad Umar. We will try to make another attempt to engage the PTI after the jalsa and hopefully this engagement would yield results and the ice will melt soon.
On Thursday, I was in contact with a PTI leader for four hours. I got an indirect assurance for reengagement and if things remain peaceful, we will talk to the PTI soon. Even before August 31, when we were holding talks with the PTI leadership, an agreement was almost 99 percent complete.
PTI’s negotiators had assured my colleagues that they would never support Dr Tahirul Qadri’s call to attack the state buildings and move forward from D-Chowk toward the PM’s house. But Sheikh Rashid jeopardised the agreement and convinced Imran Khan to support Dr Qadri.
We believe that the country doesn’t need confrontation. The country needs to move forward towards development and economic progress which requires every party to play a collaborative role.
Pakistan has taken 65 years to transition from one elected government to another. Now Imran wants to create a situation where Chinese investment is jeopardised.
We need all political parties and institutions to work together as no single politician, party or institution can help resolve public issues. Rather a collective effort is needed.
Q: What is your party’s rejoinder to the new evidence shared by Imran Khan about allegations of rigging in 2013 polls?
AI: If Imran Khan has any fresh evidence, he should move the apex court and seek justice. But we know he will not do so because all his allegations are based on hearsay. His previous allegations about a mass rigging plan also proved false. All his claims are absurd.
PML-N’s win in the 2013 election did not come as a surprise. Prior to election, all local and public opinion polls had predicted a PML-N victory and not a single poll predicted a PTI victory.
Moreover, these polls were mostly monitored by local and international observers and they also recognised that they polls were much fairer than previous ones. If there were isolated incidents of misconduct, it doesn’t prove mass scale rigging.
More than 70 percent of petitions of the PTI were decided by the election tribunals. So there is no logic to keep protesting for isolated incidents. If you go for research, you will find thousands of petitions filed by candidates in recent elections held in India. But no one claimed mass scale rigging there. So Imran Khan must follow democratic norms and he should cooperate with other political forces to legislate and introduce electoral reforms to make future polls more transparent.
However, the problem with Imran Khan is that he has already crossed 62 year mark and he wants to become prime minister by hook or by crook. He has told his friends and sons in England that he would be taking oath as prime minister. But if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts for Chinese investment augur well, Imran Khan will not even win 2018 polls. After that he would already have crossed 70-year mark and then he would not be able to become a PM. So his mind is caught up with age problem and this is what’s making him try different techniques to overthrow the PML-N government.
Q: Let’s talk about the successes you and your team have had on Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. Please tell us how many agreements have been signed with China?
AI: Pakistan and China have signed the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement; Government Concessional Loan Agreement for Construction of Cross-Border Optical Fibre Cable System; Signing of Minutes of the 3rd JCC Meeting of CPEC; Signing of MOU on the Outline of Long Term Plan of CPEC; Signing of MOU on Capacity Building for Development of CPEC; Framework Agreement for Construction of Cross-border Optical Fibre Cable System between China and Pakistan; MOU on Cooperation of Textile Garment Industrial Park Projects in Pakistan; and some other projects.
In energy sector, MOU on Surface Mine in Block-II of Thar Coal Mine and the Engro Thar 2X330 MW Coal Fired Power Plant between Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company and China Development Bank Corporation have been signed.
Others include MOU for development of Thermal Power Assets for Pakistan, HUBCO Power Company Limited (2 x 660MW including Jetty); Memorandum of Facilitation between Port Qasim Electric Power Company Private Limited and Government of Pakistan (2X660); Memorandum of Facilitation Agreement between Govt of Punjab and M/s Huaneng Shandong Rui Group, China for Development of 1320 (2×660) MW Coal Fired Power Project at Qadirabad, Sahiwal; Signing of Framework Facility Agreement on Sukhi-Kinari Hydro Power Project; Memorandum of Facilitation Agreement between Govt of Punjab and M/s China Machinery Engineering Corporation China (CMEC) for 1×660 MW Coal fired power plant at Muzaffargarh.
In Gwadar, agreements have been planned to construct Gwadar New International Airport; Gwadar Eastbay Expressway; Hospital at Gwadar; Technical and Vocational Training Institute at Gwadar; Water Supply and Distribution at Gwadar; Infrastructure for Free Zone & EPZs port related Industries and Marine works at Gwadar Port.
The infrastructure projects planned included Karakorum Highway (KKH) Phase II (Raikot-Islamabad); Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM) – (Multan-Sukkur Section); Expansion and Reconstruction of existing Mail Railway Line (ML-1).
So you see, we have made landmark progress with our Chinese friends. These protestors don’t mention these advances when they criticise the government. And like I said, just wait as people see these projects bearing fruit, and PML-N will be elected and re-elected no matter what agitators say.
