Agenda setting: Nawaz, Khosa discuss Musahrraf prosecution

Sources say that the discussions included informal negotiations on the 10-point agenda that Nawaz presented.

RAIWIND:

Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and Governor Sardar Latif Khosa discussed General (retired) Pervez Musharraf’s potential trial and punishment for treason at a meeting on Tuesday.

Officials described the meeting at Nawaz’s Raiwind residence as a courtesy call in which the two leaders agreed to promote harmony among political forces and to work together to solve the problems of the province.

But sources in the Pakistan Peoples Party and the PML-N said that the discussions included informal negotiations on the 10-point agenda that Nawaz presented to the federal government on January 4, particularly his demand that Gen Musharraf be tried for high treason for abrogating the Constitution.

PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Senior Minister Raja Riaz and Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira accompanied Khosa. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman accompanied Nawaz in the talks.

The sources said that Nawaz had asked Khosa why the PPP was not starting legal proceedings against Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution. Khosa, a renowned criminal lawyer, reportedly pointed out that Article 6 had been altered under the 18th Amendment and new legislation was required to provide for punishments for people found guilty of treason. Nawaz pressed for such legislation, and Khosa pledged to take the matter to his party leadership, said the sources.

A spokesman for the All Pakistan Muslim League, Musharraf’s new political party, said he had “got a message” from today’s meeting that Article 6 would be used against the former president and army chief. “The PPP and PML-N should ponder over national issues instead of discussing Musharraf’s fate. The PML-N’s policy is one of seeking revenge,” he said.

Warraich, the PPP Punjab president, denied there was any conversation or negotiation on the PML-N’s 10 point agenda at the meeting between the governor and Nawaz Sharif.

He said that the PPP would promote a friendly political environment in the country and enhance cooperation with the PML-N in the province. He said that Nawaz had asked both the governor and chief minister to visit one another’s offices. He said that Nawaz has also expressed the hope that the present government would complete its tenure.

Sources said that the PPP’s strategy on the PML-N agenda was to negotiate the demands as it would be unfeasible for the party to push through most of them. They said that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in his meeting with the chief minister on January 16, had tried to convince the PML-N to forego some points on the agenda, like the demand that the government implement the Supreme Court order on the National Reconciliation Ordinance and sack ministers with corruption cases against them. The party believed that legal proceedings against Musharraf would also be difficult since he was a former army chief.

A handout issued from Governor’s House stated that Khosa wanted to promote “the politics of reconciliation” and to improve the working relationship with the PML-N. He lauded Nawaz’s efforts to consolidate democracy and said that the PPP would play its role along with the PML-N for improving the political environment in the province.

Khosa later met with US Consul General Carmela Conroy at Governor’s House and briefed her about his meeting with Nawaz Sharif.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, talking to reporters outside the Punjab Assembly, welcomed the Khosa-Nawaz meeting and urged the governor to play his role in the resolution of public issues along with the Punjab government.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2011.