Faizabad sit-in: Army chief has no role in mediation, says Rana Sanaullah

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah refused to acknowledge the role of army chief or anyone else in the process of mediation between the government and the sit-in protesters. He said that the protesters had been demanding former federal law minister Zahid Hamid’s resignation from the first day of the sit-in. The resignation was tendered and the protesters ended their protest, reported a private news channel. Rana Sanaullah said that there was no role played by anyone in the mediation because mediation is done when there is a middle point to be reached while in this case the protesters were given what they had been demanding thus there was no question for mediation. Sharing the inside story of the ruling party’s discussions on the matter, the provincial law minister said that the opinion within the party on this subject was divided. One group thought that the sit-in must be cleared out with force while the other group opined against the use of force. However, when the case was referred to the court and Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the capital administration to clear Faizabad Interchange of the protesters, the opinion in favour of using force gained strength within the party. Rana Sanaullah stated that Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal did not want the operation at all. When the court ordered the Islamabad administration to take action, Ahsan Iqbal still disagreed on the use of force. But when Islamabad High Court issued him a contempt notice, he didn’t have an option but to act, Sanaullah said. The senior PML-N leader said that the credit for mediation only went to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who bridged the gap between the two opposing opinions within the party as he convinced Zahid Hamid to resign and ultimately created a situation where an agreement was reached.
Army chief also said exactly what Shahbaz Sharif had been saying that the force should not be used and the issue should be resolved through talks, he said.
IHC’s observation on the role of army in mediation was correct.
Rana Sanaullah said that the army chief didn’t ask anyone to resign nor did he suggest a solution but only reiterated what Shahbaz Sharif had already stated. He said that the paragraph in the agreement praising the army chief was validly criticised by the IHC.
“As a political worker and a legislator, I believe that the observation of IHC regarding the paragraph praising army chief was valid. I believe that this paragraph was added by the drafters of the agreement and it was unnecessary,” he said.
He added that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif had advised against the operation throughout. There was a party meeting in Raiwind on the day of operation but it only discussed the party policy for coming election and the proposed constitutional amendment. Whenever Nawaz Sharif talked about this issue and he did so twice in his presence, he always advised to resolve the issue peacefully and through talks, he said.