Rashid points finger at ‘establishment’ for PML-N govt woes – much to Nisar’s chagrin

Ex-interior minister asks former cabinet colleague to name 'conspirators'

ISLAMABAD: Fissures within the ruling PML-N came to the fore once again on Friday when former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar advised his former colleague Pervaiz Rashid to ‘show courage’ and tell the nation about the ‘conspiracy’ he has alluded to in an interview telecast earlier in the day.

“In my view, there is an evil spirit that keeps wandering in Pakistan. I shall call it the ghost of Musharraf, which is present even in the political parties, in political minds, and also in other institutions. “I won’t name any institution, but there are many cases,” Rashid told a TV channel in an interview.

The former information minister, who was sacked due to his ‘failure’ to stop publication of a controversial story about a national security meeting in October last year, also obliquely criticised the role of interior ministry in what was called the Dawn Leaks saga.

He said: “A member of the interior ministry was part of the committee formed to probe the controversy but despite of that the decision came against us.”



“Democracy is still weak. It stumbles, it is pushed and pulled, and I happily offered myself as a sacrifice to save it. My PM (Sharif) also believes in this philosophy and therefore he also exercises patience.”

Reacting strongly to Rashid’s interview, Nisar said due to unknown reasons a few people were shifting blame of their own mistakes on the Interior Ministry and the establishment. “If they are so innocent, these people should advise the government to make Dawn Leaks committee report public,” he said.

Nisar said a six-member team that investigated Dawn Leaks, had only one official from interior ministry while the rest of the five members represented the federal or provincial governments.

“Instead of talking in riddles they should also have moral courage to clearly explain to the nation about the conspiracy,” Nisar said in a clear reference to ambiguous statements coming from different PML-N leaders, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.



To a question about the alleged role of establishment in the sacking of Nawaz Sharif, Rashid earlier said the events that unfolded were the result of a frame of mind. “The PTI played the role of a pawn. They are pawns to a particular mindset which has to be changed by being faced head on, he said.

He said Musharraf had admitted that ‘someone else’ helped him in going abroad when he was being tried for high treason by a special court.

“We had no role in it [in removing Musharraf’s name from no-fly list]. But we could not stop him from leaving. This is because stopping him was not something we could do unilaterally. We needed the support of all the institutions of the state for that,” he explained.

Without elaborating, he named interior ministry, legal judgments, formation of a joint investigation team, and the alleged WhatsApp call as things that ‘happened’.  He also vaguely referred to the sources of ‘behind the scenes motivation’.



Asked why the PM was removed, he flatly said: “Because he was punished”. Rashid added that the details could be discussed later, but Nawaz Sharif would continue to play a role as a political worker.
“Some truths prove themselves as time passes,” he added.

[WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM NEWS DESK]