Zardari’s appeal: Summon up collective wisdom, parties told

Says PM’s apology for Chaudhry Nisar’s outburst was not enough

ISLAMABAD:

Former president Asif Ali Zardari appealed to politicians and the establishment to show collective moral and political wisdom in a bid to quell the three-week-long anti-government protest sit-ins.

Zardari called upon the ruling Pakistan Muslim-League-Nawaz and its chief critics -- Pakistan Awami Tehreek and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf -- to brainstorm with all political parties and come up with solutions.



At the same time, he said, the Pakistan Peoples Party will stand by democracy.

“I am here in the capital to save democracy,” said the PPP co-chairman during an interaction with reporters at his residence.

Zardari, whose party suffered an electoral rout in the 2013 general elections, said he was unaware if the establishment was behind the crisis.

“The country is facing multifaceted problems. No individual or party can deal with it. We all have to do it together… all political parties and the establishment,” he said.

According to him, the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had raised expectations of people too high and when it could not deliver on its promises a vacuum was created, which resulted in the current mess.

Zardari revealed that after 2008 elections the PML-N leadership had asked him to take his turn and let them take the next turn. “Mian sahib said to me ‘This is your turn. We will take the next turn.” I replied, “No. You take Punjab,” Zardari remarked.

The former president also defended Senator Aitzaz Ahsan’s hard-hitting speech in parliament – which sparked a bitter exchange between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Senator Ahsan a day later. Zardari said an apology from the prime minister was not enough.

Zardari also brushed aside the impression that he was playing a double role in the crisis by maintaining links with both the government and the protesting parties. “Many of you know me for the last 30 years. When I have to fight, I will fight. Where I have to make a compromise, I will do that openly,” he remarked.

He reaffirmed that the PPP would stand for democracy and told the media that he could only assure Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that they were with him for the sake of democracy.

“Who am I to offer advice to Mian sahib? He is older than me. But I assure that we will stand by democracy,” he said.

He also clarified he had not extended any favour to the prime minister but was actually acting upon the political ideology of Z A Bhutto and the late Benazir Bhutto.

Asked whether he knew about the outcome of the jirga of opposition parties following its meeting with protesting parties, Zardari said he was unaware of the progress made recently.

Zardari said like his own party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had became “offended for the first time” while the PPP had faced such deceptions many times over.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2014.