Former President General Pervez Musharraf (r) has opposed the imposition of Martial Law or holding of fresh elections in the immediate future stressing for the establishment of an interim government to ensure checks and balances and setting the house in order in different sectors.
In a TV interview, Musharraf did not name the person to head the government but said there are three to four politicians and many technocrats in the country and abroad to run the government. He said when he took over in 1999, twelve people out of 14 he selected in the cabinet were not known to him but they helped in putting the house in order.
To a question, he said he is waiting for the present political environment to change and Nawaz Sharif goes out. He said then he would come to Pakistan and face cases in courts because there would be no big risk as Iftikhar Chaudhry and Nawaz Sharif would be no more there.
He said there are chances of Imran Khan to succeed in elections in Punjab and form the government at the centre but was of the opinion that he will not succeed and let Pakistan down.
Regarding reports that he was being urged to lead the Karachi based MQM-P and PSP, Musharraf categorically stated: "I would be stupid to lead the MQM as I am a national figure and would not play role at ethnic level in Karachi. He said he has no sympathy with MQM and PSP but Mohajirs and people of Pakistan.
"Let us go for a Paradigm shift in our politics away from ethnicity and the only place we can start for Pakistaniat is Karachi where people of all nationalities are residing" Musharraf emphasized. The former President said a third political force is needed in Pakistan to defeat PML-N and PPP otherwise Sindh would continue to be run by Asif Zardari. He said Nawaz Sharif and Zardari have taken Pakistan on a wrong political course.
In reply to another question, Musharraf categorically rejected the impression that he wanted to execute Nawaz Sharif. He said as proud Pakistani; he wanted that there should be a pro active diplomacy pursued by Pakistan and not to surrender before any one. He said on the contrary, there is no international stature of Pakistan and it is being felt low.
He said Pakistan is not a small country and should do what the world is doing and not to surrender to any one. He defended his stance of supporting the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which has been declared as terrorist organisation by India and posed the counter question whether India is recognizing Kulbhuashan Yadav, a naval officer and RAW agent, while New Delhi is not accepting UN resolution for a plebiscite in Kashmir and the US refused to accept the UN resolution for shifting its embassy to Jerusalem.
He said if these countries are not accepting the UN resolutions, why should Pakistan submit to them. He said he twice visited the United States in the last 6-7 months and who ever he met did not ask about LeT but about Haqqani Group and Dr Shakil Afridi. Therefore he said we should counter propaganda against the LeT.
Musharraf supported the briefing given by the COAS to the Senate. He said under the prevailing situation, the COAS has done the right thing to clarify the situation in the country. Asked whether he knew General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former COAS General Raheel Sharif before their taking over as Army Chiefs, Musharraf said he had personal and family relations with General Raheel but did not meet personally to General Bajwa.
Comments
Comments are closed.