Zardari phones Sharif to ease tension

The president’s call came on a day when there was another sparring match between the PPP and the PML-N.

ISLAMABAD:

After a fortnight of chaos on the national political arena and a day of verbal duels between the second tier leadership of their parties, President Asif Zardari and former premier Nawaz Sharif revived their long broken contact in a surprise development on Sunday.

President Zardari took the initiative when he called up Mian Nawaz Sharif who is currently in the UK looking after his ailing wife. President Zardari is in Karachi where he is trying to smooth relations with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The president’s call came on a day when there was another sparring match between the second tier leadership of the  Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In Islamabad, a close aide of the PML-N leader termed President Zardari a ‘bigger threat to the democracy than anything else.’

The remark, made by National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, was replied to with an equally loaded accusation by a loyalist of President Zardari.

“The PML-N is involved in the ugly politics of using state institutions as a shield to achieve its objectives,” alleged Federal Law Minister Babar Awan in a clandestine reference to judicial activism and secret meetings between the top leaders of Sharif’s party and the military hierarchy.

Since their separation in Punjab last month, the relationship between the PPP and the PML-N has been in freefall with members from both sides attacking each other’s top leadership.

A handout statement issued by Zardari’s media office gave the impression that the call was an apolitical interaction and the president called to inquire about the health of the PML-N leader’s wife.

“The president prayed for the early and full recovery of the wife of Mian Nawaz Sharif. The PML-N Quaid thanked him for his gesture,” a brief statement added.

A more detailed statement issued by the PML-N’s media office in Islamabad said that the president had also invited Sharif for a meeting upon the former premier’s return from London in a week or so.

However, according to the statement, Sharif did not promise Zardari a meeting right away, saying that he “might consider it” after his return to Pakistan.

Some misgivings, however, between the two might have been removed.

According to the statement, President Zardari clarified to Sharif that he did not blame the former premier for a bizarre incident in which his (Zardari’s) tongue was cut during a police interrogation in the 90s.

A leading English-language daily on Sunday reported that Zardari had told his loyalists that he had not forgiven Sharif for ordering the police to cut his tongue during detention.

The PML-N statement said that Sharif reminded the president that he had constantly been giving advice on how steer the country out of crisis but complained that his suggestions were not heeded.

Sharif also informed Zardari that he never expressed confidence in Justice (Retd) Deedar Hussain Shah in 2000-01. “My lawyer might have said this. I didn’t,” Sharif added, according to the statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2011.