APML rally: Musharraf backtracks on return plans
Musharraf says he will come back only if his party is successful in a ‘show of strength’.
LAHORE:
In an apparent backtracking from his party’s earlier stance, former President Pervez Musharraf has linked his return to Pakistan to the level of support his political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), is able to muster.
The statement is in contrast to what a party spokesperson said on Friday when he announced that Musharraf would be returning to Pakistan by the end of the year, without giving any qualifying conditions for the return.
The former president was addressing a rally of APML workers in Lahore on Sunday and laid out the party’s three-stage strategy for making headway in national politics.
In the first stage, said Musharraf, the party would create liaison committees at the district and provincial level. In the second stage, the party would decide to conduct a “show of strength” across the country. If the first two stages are successful, then the former president would make the decision to return to Pakistan.
In the third phase, Musharraf said he would lead the party in a campaign for the 2013 general elections. He claimed that the party would be able to win an absolute majority in the National Assembly, though he hinted that the party was open to alliances with other “like-minded” political parties.
APML leaders attended a rally in Lahore organised by the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in what many saw as the beginnings of a potential alliance. Musharraf had cordial relations with the MQM when he was president.
Musharraf denied rumours that he had been trying to meet Nawaz Sharif, who was in London for medical treatment.
“Nawaz used to give enmity in exchange of sympathies and I never expect anything good from him,” said the former president of the PML-N chief.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2011.
In an apparent backtracking from his party’s earlier stance, former President Pervez Musharraf has linked his return to Pakistan to the level of support his political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), is able to muster.
The statement is in contrast to what a party spokesperson said on Friday when he announced that Musharraf would be returning to Pakistan by the end of the year, without giving any qualifying conditions for the return.
The former president was addressing a rally of APML workers in Lahore on Sunday and laid out the party’s three-stage strategy for making headway in national politics.
In the first stage, said Musharraf, the party would create liaison committees at the district and provincial level. In the second stage, the party would decide to conduct a “show of strength” across the country. If the first two stages are successful, then the former president would make the decision to return to Pakistan.
In the third phase, Musharraf said he would lead the party in a campaign for the 2013 general elections. He claimed that the party would be able to win an absolute majority in the National Assembly, though he hinted that the party was open to alliances with other “like-minded” political parties.
APML leaders attended a rally in Lahore organised by the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in what many saw as the beginnings of a potential alliance. Musharraf had cordial relations with the MQM when he was president.
Musharraf denied rumours that he had been trying to meet Nawaz Sharif, who was in London for medical treatment.
“Nawaz used to give enmity in exchange of sympathies and I never expect anything good from him,” said the former president of the PML-N chief.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2011.