Time for a change, says Sharif

PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif says he will support change in set-up it if the government doesn’t mend its ways.

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)chief, Mian Nawaz Sharif has said that it was time for a change in the current set-up – and he will support it if the government doesn’t mend its ways. However, he said he is opposed to any change that is unconstitutional.

He also called for a ‘Charter of Pakistan’ to save the country from any unconstitutional act.

Addressing writers, dramatists and showbiz figures at a dialogue held at Al Hamra Arts Council on Thursday, the former prime minister, categorically expressing no-confidence in martial laws, said democracy is the only way to save the country.

“Though it is high time for change in the set-up, it should never be extra-constitutional,” he said, adding that he favoured a ‘soft revolution’. He said that instead of talking of martial law, the democratic system needed to be refined. If the system fails to deliver,  the change should be inevitable through a constitutional way.

Reminding people of his services for democracy, he said when a situation came to make democracy strong, he asked his party men to take oath from General Musharraf, although they were reluctant to do so. “The failure of the government must not be declared as the failure of democracy, there is always some better means of correction and we will continue to correct the government whenever it goes wrong,” said Sharif. However, he asserted that “if we felt that government wasn’t changing its ways, there may be some legal solution to that”.

He said Pakistan was achieved through a democratic process and could be sustained the same way. He proposed people from all walks of life should agree to a 25-year agenda for the country, which should be implemented at all costs, no matter which party was in power.

Sharif went on to say that he was thankful to former prime minister, the late Benazir Bhutto who signed the Charter of Democracy with him in which both had expressed the resolve to save the country from the challenges it was facing. He said unfortunately this Charter wasn’t implemented after her and promises were broken one after the other.

He held martial laws responsible for all problems being faced by Pakistan. He cited India’s example and said it was dreaming of becoming a global power mainly because of the success of the democratic system there. He regretted that the democratic leaders were maltreated in Pakistan and dictators glorified.

Substantiating the point, he said, a prime minister who had brought more than 90,000 prisoners of war back home from the Indian prisons was hanged. Similarly, he said, he himself was humiliated after being toppled.

But he who surrendered to Indian army chief was garlanded, a reference to General Niazi. Likewise, he said, General Musharraf who had Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti killed was accorded guard of honour when he left the presidency. He demanded that Musharraf should be held accountable for the injustice he had done to the country.

In his opinion Pakistan would not be needing foreign assistance if it controlled its wasteful expenditure.

He made it clear that his party would not tolerate corruption, defiance of the Supreme Court orders and bad governance.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2010.