PPP out of options: Sharif

Sharif calls on President Zardari to apologise to the nation because the ruling party had run out of options.

Former prime minister and chief of his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Sharif on Saturday called upon President Asif Zardari to apologise to the nation because the ruling party had run out of options and change was inevitable now.

In an interview with a private TV channel, Sharif renewed his call for the government to reform itself. “People had voted the PPP to power and pinned great hopes in its leader. Now the PPP should come up to their expectations,” he said. In the same breath he warned that if the PPP-led government failed to deliver, the call for change will become stronger.

The former two-time prime minister, whose government was toppled by then army chief Pervez Musharraf in blood-less coup in October 1999, said he was opposed to the military’s interference in politics. However, he regretted that the incumbent government lacks dynamism. And in a time of political instability, chances of the military’s interference in politics increase.

Referring to the recent meeting of the power troika, Sharif said his government had also been assured of a kind of confidence as was expressed in Sunday’s meeting at the presidency. He was referring to Gen Musharraf’s coup against his government.

He claimed that Musharraf had distributed huge sums of money among the Q-League shortly before the 2008 general elections. And that he (Sharif) had proof of it. Sharif said that Q-League’s tickets were issued at the Punjab Governor House.

The PML-N chief vowed not  to indulge in horse-trading or extend his party’s blind support to anyone. Referring to the unification of various factions of the Muslim League under Pir Pagra, Sharif said he did not know who was behind it.

Separately, Sharif said that continuing drone attacks in tribal regions were straining relations between Pakistan and the United States. In a meeting with the outgoing US Ambassador Anne W Patterson on Saturday, he added that no one would be allowed to violate the country’s sovereignty.

The post-flood situation in Pakistan also came up for discussion at the meeting. And Sharif urged Washington to help Islamabad tackle the devastation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2010.