PPP wants PML-N govt to complete tenure: Shah

Leader of opposition says all issues should be discussed in parliament

KARACHI: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah has said the Pakistan Peoples Party would not become part of any conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the government through unconstitutional means.

“We have never hatched a conspiracy against the government. This is the reason the incumbent government has finished its four years. We wish this government completes its tenure and don’t want to indulge in politics of leg-pulling,” he said while addressing the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday.



Shah referred to the disqualification case of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and said, “Nawaz Sharif wearing a black coat would attend each hearing against Gilani. We did not do it even in the case of the Panama(gate) against the prime minister because we don’t want to repeat the mistake to weaken democracy,” he said.

Shah said the PPP believed in institutional development rather than empowering individuals.

“Some people are talking about the IG Sindh and DG Rangers, we want to empower both the institutions,” he said, adding: “Some PML-N leaders are making a hue and cry over power theft in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but they don’t utter a single word against Punjab where the situation is worse than all other provinces.”

“In Lahore alone the ratio of power theft is more than Sindh. Why have they been keeping mum on this issue?” he questioned.

“If these allegations continue, then Sindh will also reserve the right to take up the gas theft issue,” he remarked.

The opposition leader further said that no decision should be made in haste and political parties must start consultation on various issues.

“Parliament is the supreme forum. We should discuss national and other issues confronted by our country in it,” he said.

Shah said even though the “Dharna” politics was started against the PML-N government, but the PPP did not support it and tried to foil the conspiracy against democracy.

“We are still with democracy and nothing will happen if one or two faces are changed. But unfortunately, Nawaz Sharif is unwilling to give up his chair,” he said, adding when former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified by the Supreme Court, the PPP had handed over his office to Raja Parvez Ashraf without any problem and it finished its five-year constitutional term.

Earlier, talking to the media the opposition leader criticised Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and said, “He has always dreamt of becoming the prime minister, but his dream will not come true.

He said the federal interior minister went into hiding whenever any untoward incident took place and came back after the situation got under control.

Responding to a question about Karachi’s infrastructure and drinking water, he said, “The provincial government is taking many steps to resolve these issues.”



Meanwhile, responding to the statement of Khurshid Shah, spokesperson for the interior minister said: “Shah should review his present and his past before making baseless, meaningless and indecent statements.”

He said a person who had to face the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for his deeds during his tenure in the government, who had a question mark on his rise from a utility worker to the federal minister, whose financial assets were part of a NAB reference and who was a compromised opposition leader of parliamentary history “should think hundred times before making such statements”.

He said: “Unfortunately those whose own performance was nil are trying to raise their stature through unnecessarily criticising the interior minister.

He said: “The entire nation knows the reason of this criticism on the interior minister by those who remained involved in financial and administrative irregularities and had set records of poor performance.”

[With input from our correspondent from Islamabad]