Acting President Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has said that frequent meddling of military in civil affairs and toppling of elected governments had become no more than a dying ideas, cautioning the political parties to refrain from giving oxygen tents to collapsing military dictatorship by supporting or cutting deal with it.
Addressing crowded gathering of lawyers at District Bar Association Multan here on Monday, Hashmi, who has been bailed out recently by Supreme Court from prison after languishing nearly four year behind the bars on mutiny charges, urged the PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto not to cut any deal with the military-led dispensation, addressing her, "BB do not strike any deal with generals because people support you (Benazir) due to your firm anti-establishment stance and I also acknowledge PPP struggle, courage against dictators in the past despite having grave political and ideological differences". He also asked Benazir not to spoil his political carrier, as according to him, any deal with dictator would ruins her political carrier.
Hashmi said that the political leadership and parties were openly admitting their mistakes and blunders committed by them in the past and they were committed to foil regeneration of the 'military junta' for toppling and indulging in politics.
Terming 17th amendment as a political blunder of MMA, he asked the alliance's leadership to confess of it. "Charter of Democracy doesn't allow any component to initiate dialogues with dictators directly or indirectly," he noted. The major objective of London MPC was to foil Musharraf's reelection and for the purpose an alliance was also formed but PPP refused to join it, he added.
However, he said, the doors of All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) were still open for PPP. Hashmi claimed that General Pervez Musharraf launched Kargil operation even without out taking top brass of Navy, Air Force and elected Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif into confidence. "He (Musharraf) decided execution of the Kargil operation in his individual capacity", he alleged.
He was of the view that the prestige and honour of the army was put on stake at that time owing to the Musharraf's wrong doings and policies and the US prevented Pakistan army from the crisis on the request of Mian Nawaz Sharif.
"General Musharraf 'physically danced' on hearing the matter was settled and even he confessed that Mian Nawaz Sharif served the army greatly, but deplorably he later sacked his elected government," he maintained.
Hashmi came down hard on US for it policy to support dictatorship in Pakistan, saying that people of Pakistan hat these policies as US dependency had destroyed the country at all levels. He urged the people to hold the politicians accountable and get assurance from them that they would not support and tolerate US interference in country's affairs.
Paying rich tributes to the disgraced father of Pakistan nuclear programme, Dr Abdul Qadir Khan, he condemned the military regime of holding him in virtual detention and disgracing him. "How those people, who defamed and disgraced the father of country's nuclear programme, would protect the nuclear programme," he questioned. He warned the 160 million people of the country would not allow any one to role-back the nuclear programme.
He said rebirth of a new Pakistan occurred with the independence of judiciary following the presidential reference against the chief justice of Pakistan mainly due to lawyers' struggle. He deplored that the political parties failed to deliver during the lawyers' movement for independence of judiciary. President DBA Multan, Akram Bathi, General Secretary Mumtaz Tangra ex senator and senior lawyer Malik Rafiq Rajwana and other also spoke.