PML-N offers to resign to clean up govt’s mess

During a rally in Badin, Nawaz says he has not been in contact with Zardari for a year.

SUKKUR:

Chief of his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif, while declaring the present government a ‘security risk’ for democracy, said that his party was willing to resign if it helped ‘rid the people of this mess’.

He was talking to the media in Pir Jo Goth, where he had come to offer condolences to Pir Pagara Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi over the sad demise of his father Pir Pagara Syed Shah Mardan Shah, on Tuesday.

Referring to the new Pir Pagara he said they have enjoyed cordial relations since long and added that both the parties will forge cooperation.

Nawaz said that Pakistan was passing through a very critical phase and not a single party was able to tackle the problems. He appealed to all political forces to join hands to pull the country out of the multiple problems.

Earlier, while talking to reporters at the Sukkur airport, the PML-N chief said all opposition parties met recently to discuss the fragile situation of the country and agreed that the government and its coalition partners are not playing a positive role.

Nawaz said that when government is involved in contempt of court, its coalition partners are also equally responsible. The prime minister should respect the judiciary and must appear before the Supreme Court, he said.

He added that had President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani listened to his advice, there would be no need of ‘political wheeling and dealing’ today, but now, he regretted, it’s too late.

‘No contact with Zardari since a year’

Meanwhile, Nawaz disclosed that he has had no contact with President Zardari for the last one year. He added that before losing touch, he had tried to ‘convince’ the president to serve the people of Sindh and Pakistan.

“We have not spoken to each other for one year but before that I asked him to visit villages and cities of Sindh and look at the lives of people there. I asked him to go to Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan as well,” he said.

The PML-N chief was addressing a rally in Rahuki, Badin on the occasion of 25th death anniversary of renowned farmers’ political leader Fazil Rahu.

“I will change the fate of the people of Sindh and will eliminate the reign of dacoits, if given the chance to serve the country as prime minister,” he promised.

Nawaz said that while the government continues to ignore the flood-affected areas of Sindh, he is the one who visited them first and requested the federal government to help the victims.

He also pointed out that the law and order in the province was not satisfactory. “I eliminated the reign of dacoits in Sindh. I’ll bring a massive change in Sindh again. There will be schools, colleges and universities in the province. People will get jobs,” the party chief promised.

With additional reporting by Razzak Khatti in Badin

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2012.