No message of reconciliation from Nawaz to Zardari: ex-PM’s aide

ISLAMABAD: Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has not sent any message for “reconciliation” to former President Asif Ali Zardari, seeking support or benefit for his “person”, a key aide of the ex-premier said.

“There are many ‘characters’ available in the ‘market’ that might be proposing reconciliation to Zardari pretending that they are Nawaz Sharif’s message carriers,” the advisor said.

He said that whenever these individuals happen to meet the former prime minister in London or Pakistan, they volunteer their services for removing bitterness between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), claiming that they have the best of relationship with Zardari and can freely discuss with him any issue.

“What should Nawaz Sharif tell them when these characters make such offers?” the aide posed a question, and said that the former prime minister agrees with them on their insistence to play a role to bring about a rapprochement.

He said that at no point has Nawaz Sharif asked any such visitor to go to Zardari with his message to sort out differences to build up political ties.

When contacted by The News, former Information Minister Senator Pervez Rashid said that Nawaz Sharif has highlighted three clear-cut principles for cooperation with political forces and anybody agreeing with them is welcome for cooperation.

He was asked to comment on Zardari’s claim that the ex-prime minister has conveyed repeated messages to him from London for collaboration, giving the impression that Nawaz Sharif was very desperate to get support.

Pervez Rashid said the three principles are: sanctity of vote; accountability of politicians by people of Pakistan; and supremacy of the Constitution. “No personal gains are involved in this agenda,” he said.

He said that if Zardari appreciates and values these principles, there is always an open invitation to him for teamwork without any reservations. He recollected that while delineating this programme, the ousted premier had invited all the political parties certainly including the PPP to make it a national cause for strengthening of democracy.

Pervez Rashid said that Nawaz Sharif has publicly made it clear that his future politics would be based on these principles and left no grey area for any ambiguity or confusion. He added that all political parties, which concur to this mission, have solidified a cooperative relationship with the PML-N, and those disagreeing with it have chosen a different trajectory.

Another PML-N leader said that by repetitively claiming that he was constantly spurning reconciliatory messages from Nawaz Sharif, Zardari was in fact telling others, hating the former prime minister, that he shares their stand and opinion against him and wants to be in their good books.

He said that the conclusion of NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) by Benazir Bhutto with Pervez Musharraf was a major nail in the coffin of the Charter of Democracy (CoD), but still the PML-N has been trying to never spoil its working relationship with the PPP.

The present arguments given by Pervez Rashid and other PML-N leaders apart, none of them has responded to Zardari’s similar frequent contentions, obviously to keep the temperature down with the former president.

At least thrice, Zardari has openly claimed that he has contemptuously turned down Nawaz Sharif’s recurring reconciliation offers when the former premier is in a deep soup after his disqualification by the Supreme Court. He has declared that he will not come to his rescue this time.

In his latest salvo, the former president alleged that the “godfather sends us secret messages for reconciliation from London, but we have rejected them.” He also demanded his and his family members’ immediate arrest.

Zardari and his comrades strongly feel that they must take a hardline against Nawaz Sharif and refrain from developing any rapport with him as this strategy will spawn tremendous political gains for them in Punjab where the PPP is still in a very bad shape. So far, this approach has not produced wonders.

At a time when the next general elections are just a few months away and Zardari and his son Bilawal are making concerted efforts to revive their party’s fortunes in the majority province, they believe that they have to be aggressive against the PML-N.

Within the PPP, voices have been often raised pointing out that the policy of reconciliation with the PML-N damaged the party, bringing to the present sorry pass. While attacking Nawaz Sharif, Zardari has complained about the arrest of his close aides in corruption cases during the tenure of the present government, but he is shying away from naming those who actually caught them. It is commonly known that the federal government had nothing to do with such arrests including that of Dr Asim Hussain.