Saving the system: PPP ready to mediate between PTI, govt, says Shah

Leader of opposition rejects news of differences between Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said on Wednesday that the Pakistan Peoples Party is willing to mediate between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Speaking at Express News programme Kal Tak he told host Javed Chaudhry that Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani will sit with both the government and the PTI negotiators to resolve their differences.

“If the PTI’s point of view is correct we will be with them on the streets,” Shah said.

However, he said, Imran Khan follows double standards. The PTI chief has boycotted half of Parliament, as the party is ready to take part in the upcoming Senate elections, he said. “Imran should announce boycott of Senate elections until the formation of the judicial commission as demanded by the PTI,” Shah said.

The Sindh Assembly, like Punjab Assembly, will be more than willing to accept the resignations of PTI members, he said, advising Imran Khan to come to Parliament for resolving the issues he has with the government.

Regarding PTI chief’s political prowess, Shah said that the tragedy of Army Public School is still fresh and Imran Khan could have gone on an Umrah after 10 or 20 days.

The seasoned politician pointed out that a minister has also boycotted the Senate, “it is our virtue that we are not tabling a resolution against him.”

Replying to a question Shah said that PML-N always gets two-thirds majority, but loses it. “If the government does not change its attitude, I cannot say what will happen.”



He said such is the aura of nobility around PML-N leadership that members of Parliament cannot access ministers and the cabinet members cannot reach the prime minster.

“We tried to wake up the ministers on the impending petrol crisis but to no avail,” he said, recalling, “in the PPP government, if there was a whiff of an incoming crisis, we would go directly to the PM even at night, because the prime minster never sleeps.”

Appalled at the mismanagement of the government, Shah said the country had not seen such a fuel crisis even during the wars of 1965 and 1971.

“Ishaq Dar has made a joke of himself by calling the petrol crisis a ‘conspiracy’, how is it possible for Imran Khan to lift all the petrol from all of the filling stations,” Shah questioned.

Regarding the anti-terrorism efforts, the leader of the opposition said that 21st Amendment was approved with consensus. “Though they don’t express it in public, even Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam are with the 21st Amendment,” he said.

The PPP government had also formulated anti-terrorism laws, but the courts did not go along with them, Shah recalled. He expressed the hope that terrorism will end now.

Regarding differences between Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto, he said these rumours were creation of the media. In the past, news of differences between Nawaz and Shahbaz had done the rounds in the media, but they proved false.

Shah said that Rangers were conducting an operation in Karachi at the behest of MQM, if any worker of that party has been wrongly arrested or killed, they should present facts and figures.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2015.