Gen Kayani rigged polls through civilian set-up: Shujaat

ISLAMABAD: General Kayani was personally involved in rigging the 2013 general election which brought Nawaz Sharif into power,” disclosed former Prime Minister and PML-N President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in an exclusive interview with this reporter at his residence here.
The shocking disclosure came when he was asked why voices were being raised against the former Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani who didn’t stage a cup against the elected government of PPP led by Asif Ali Zardari.
Shujaat is among those very few politicians who command countrywide respect because when he was in power he always reached out to politicians, including his opponents, for their views on national issues.
More importantly, he always adopts a “Miti Pao” (let bygone be bygones) policy when it comes to controversies.
The elderly politician was carefully answering questions, in pauses, in the Punjabi language.
Asked why he thought General Kayani was involved in rigging, as one of the WikiLeaks cable had revealed his conversation with former US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson in which he said he disliked Zardari and distrusted Sharif even more.
“I don’t know this, but I know Kayani was secretly hand in glove with Sharifs and he misused his position as the Chief of Army Staff.”
Asked if the military was involved in rigging, Shujaat said: “Kayani actually used the civilian setup for the purpose.”
Asked if he wanted the Judicial Commission, probing the alleged rigging, to question Gen Kayani and the ex-ISI chief Gen Zaheerul Islam, who headed the intelligence agency at the time of 2013 general election, Shujaat skipped the question, without saying “Miti Pao”.
Following the 2008 election result, Ch. Shujaat was once critical of General Musharraf, but both have recently mended their fences.
Gen Pervaiz Musharraf heads the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) while Ch Shujaat being a senior politician is busy uniting the Muslim Leagues.
Asked if Musharraf was actually against Kayani, Shujaat smiled and said: “Not only Musharraf, but many others were also convinced.”
He did not speak much about the 2008 general election and confined the discussion to 2013 general election.
When his attention was drawn towards the fact that there is a civil-military imbalance in the country which is still in favor of the army, Shujaat said the army would continue to have a role in the country so it must have a constitutional role.
Shujaat and his PML-Q are known for supporting the powerful military establishment. Despite being a politician, he thinks the army should have a role in the domestic issues of the country.
Shujaat has worked closely with Nawaz Sharif in mid-80 and 90s. Asked why he had decided to leave Nawaz Sharif when the latter was facing arrest following the military coup of 1999, Shujaat politely responded: “We did not leave him instead we had hired lawyers for Nawaz Sharif. We were frequent visitors of Attock Fort where Nawaz Sharif was kept.”
He disclosed that about two days before leaving for Saudi Arabia in 2003, Nawaz Sharif expelled him along with Pervaiz Elahi, Ijazul Haq etc from the party.
“Since then to date I never had a detailed meeting with Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif enjoyed all facilities at the Attock Fort. He used to have menu for meals.”
Asked about the performance of Nawaz Sharif, Shujaat predicted that he seemed least interested in politics and was heading for retirement in the next election.
Asked who would replace him, Shujaat answered: “There is no replacement of Nawaz Sharif in the party; minus Nawaz all are zero”.
People who have worked closely with the Sharifs have also observed that there is a difference of attitude between Nawaz Sharif and his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
“Shahbaz Sharif uses power for his authority but Nawaz Sharif listens to others,” said Shujaat.
Shujaat was supporter of Tahirul Qadri and his party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in August 2014 against Nawaz Sharif.
Asked why the sit-in failed to bring the desired results, Shujaat said he had advised Qadri to take back the demand of Nawaz Sharif’s resignation and assert on the rest of demands but it was not heeded.
“I was suddenly told by Tahirul Qadri that he had decided to leave the venue; I was not consulted thoroughly.”
Shujaat enjoys close relations with the powerful military establishment. Asked about the details of the meeting he had with the then ISI chief Gen (R) Zaheerul Islam at his residence shortly before the sit-in in August 2014, Shujaat did not deny the meeting; however, he maintained that they had “discussed national issues”.
Asked if they had a meeting with the ISI chief in London where he had arrived from his US visit in July and which was called as “London Plan” against the ruling Sharifs, he denied it saying that they had only met Tahirul Qadri there.
Shujaat considers Asif Ali Zardari as the most successful politician of this time who has the capacity to take all the people along.
He recalled that when he first met Asif Ali Zardari at the Aiwan-e-Saddar, Zardari shared with him that he did not want to do the politics of the ruling elite and won’t attempt to become a leader instead he would do the politics of consensus.
Coming out of the Presidency after the meeting on that very day Shujaat told his cousin Ch. Pervaiz Elahi that this man (Zardari) would complete his tenure in the presidency and would be a successful politician.
Shujaat said ideologically he was not with the PPP but individually he supported Asif Ali Zardari and was with him.
“When we gave Mr. Zardari 22 names of our party leaders for ministerial posts in the cabinet, while the PPP had just 19 ministers, Zardari came to me and asked if anyone had left.”
Shujaat said Asif Zardari told him that when they were making a truce, some of PPP leaders opposed it but he told them that the father of Ch. Shujaat was said to have been killed by Murtaza Bhutto so it was a bigger thing for Ch. Shujaat than for them.
Shujaat is busy meeting all the leaguers these days. Asked if he was busy unifying the Muslim League, he replied: Muslim Leagues cannot be unified; they can be gathered together.”
Asked about his feelings for the people who had left him and were now in the cabinet, Shujaat said: “Paira tay ghat lagda laikn dukh vi honda ay. Jairay lokaan noon assan wazir baranya unaa di izaat kiti oo khilaf galaan karan tay dukh tay honda ay.” (It feels very bad when people, whom we gave ministerial slots and whom we respected, talk against us.)
When this reporter asked him to name the deserters, Shujaat instantly named a former minister but requested that his name be not mentioned in the story. He also named Bosans, Bhatti, and Hiraj etc.
He said the PML-Q was playing the role of an academy which had contributed its trained politicians almost to every party.
Asked about his favorite politician, Shujaat without a pause named former Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo. “He was not only down to earth but also a very honest man.” Shujaat said he desired to see the motherland prosperous but yet he has not.