Nawaz allowed Musharraf to leave country: Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said Nawaz Sharif allowed former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to leave the country. He said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) did not stand with the establishment but with Pakistan.

“Nawaz Sharif should make it clear with whom he was standing, either with Pakistan or any other outside force,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Zardari House on Friday along with Opposition Leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman, PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, PPP President Central Punjab Qamar Zaman Kaira and PPPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar.

The press conference was basically on Fata reforms bill as he termed it a stepping stone towards further progress and observed that the entire parliament deserved appreciation for the historic move.

The former president said that Nawaz Sharif used to playing a double game. When asked if a new IJI was being formed today with the inclusion of electables into a specific party, Zardari said when he was in jail before the formation of government of Mir Zafarullah Jamali, he was offered to form the government but he then refused to become a party like the IJI then and how could he accept now.

In reply to another question regarding Nawaz Sharif’s remarks that Asif Ali Zardari came to him for indemnity to General Musharraf in 2008, Zardari said why he should have asked Nawaz Sharif for the indemnity to Musharraf and if he had gone to Nawaz Sharif, he should have asked him other things. “I had forced the dictator to leave the presidency,” he said.

Asif Ali Zardari said the world community was not ready to trust Nawaz Sharif but accepted him as a replacement for Musharraf for the presidency. “We have given Punjab to Nawaz Sharif in 2008, for which the party is yet suffering,” he said.

He said he had allowed PML-N to make the government in Punjab in 2008 to have the party on board so Nawaz could take certain decisions, including the ouster of Musharraf.

He said, “Sharif says one thing while does the other, which was evident from the Musharraf case in which his [Nawaz] government said that Musharraf should be allowed to leave when asked by the court.”

To a question with regard to formation of South Punjab province, Zardari said the new province would also be created soon and all the parties just like that would vote for it. In reply to a question with regard to alliance with the PTI, Zardari said when the PTI was not interested in it, how the PPP could show interest for it.

Asked about the incident in which PTI's senior leader Naeemul Haq slapped Minister for Privatisation Daniyal Aziz, the former president said it was against the political norms and culture and how could one encourage such kind of acts.

Asked about his comment on the book which was jointly authored by ex-RAW chief and ex-ISI chief Lt General (R) Asad Durrani and asked if such a book was written by any civilian leader, the charges of treason would have levelled against him, Zardari apparently avoiding the question said that he had not read the book yet and when he would read it he would give his reaction on it.

To a question about remarks of Nawaz Sharif about dragging his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif into the courts, Zardari said he did not want to see the daughter of anyone into jail but Nawaz Sharif should also tell that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was not a daughter who was dragged from one court to another. “I was kept in jail for a long period,” he said.

To yet another question with regard to impression of softness of NAB in Sindh as compared to Punjab, the former president refuted the impression that the PPP had been let off the hook by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and said that his people were still facing cases and were in jails while none of the PML-N leaders had so far reached jail.

Asked about the need of dialogue between the civil and military leadership, he said there was no civil and military issue as it was an individual issue. “We are focusing on Pakistan and monitoring the regional situation where the US has established base camps in Afghanistan and also India."

Asked about Nawaz Sharif's demand for formation of a commission to probe the revelations made in the book co-authored by former RAW chief and ISI chief recently, Zardari said the establishment of truth and reconciliation is on the manifesto of PPP where everyone speaks truth. “But first they speak truth of their past deeds,” he said,

In reply to another question regarding the predictions about next elections, Zardari said he did not have the magical cup to see the future but it is hoped that this time the elections would be not RO elections. To a question about the caretaker set-up, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan has been given more powers and the caretaker set-up is no more relevant.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari’s basic purpose was to extend his congratulation on the merger of Fata into Khyber Pukhtunkhwa through the press conference and said it was the thinking of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. “The politics in Fata started during the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while Benazir Bhutto had approached the courts of law for the Fata merger into KP,” he said.

The former president said that some friends were asking him what he did when he was in the presidency on this issue and he wanted to tell them that he invited the tribal jirga to the Presidency to seek their opinion. "We were unable to implement the idea of the merger during our time in the office because of the game Nawaz had played," said Zardari.

He said there were some people who were against the merger because of their personal benefits. Asked about Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s opposition to the merger of the Fata with KP, Asif Ali Zardari said dialogue could be initiated with Maulana Fazlur Rehman on it. Asif Ali Zardari praised former senator Farhatullah Babar for his work done for the reforms in Fata that led to its merger with KP.