No one is bigger than Pakistan: Vawda

ISLAMABAD:

Senator Faisal Vawda has said Pakistan is heading towards neither dictatorship nor a presidential system, while criticising what he described as "sham democracy" and saying no prime minister or chief minister was greater than the country.

Speaking on Express News programme Centre Stage, Vawda said ordinary Pakistanis needed basic necessities and services, including flour, sugar, schools, colleges and affordable transport, but those who controlled such resources had become rulers.

He said the living standards of ordinary people had continued to deteriorate, adding that public patience had run out.

Education in Sindh and Punjab was in a worse state than in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Vawda said, but stressed that the country did not belong to any individual or family.

He said terrorism could not be eliminated within two to four months, although efforts to tackle it would begin. Recalling his remarks in 2018, he said he had called for the military to be respected, arguing that its role had enabled Pakistan to establish itself internationally.

Vawda said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also had capable people who would be given opportunities, whether as parliamentarians or in other roles.

PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan said there was now greater room for dialogue than before, following the removal of the party's provincial government in K-P.

He said securing the release of PTI founder Imran Khan was currently a greater priority than access to medication.

Ali Muhammad Khan said a government enjoying what he described as three-fourths public support had been removed, throwing the country into a volatile situation. He questioned whether the fight against terrorism could be won without the PTI, saying the party had been cooperating.

He described the imposition of governor's rule in K-P as an arbitrary decision.