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| KLB not acceptable, says Nawaz |
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Friday, October 16, 2009
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that the Kerry-Lugar Bill was not acceptable to his party in the present shape.
When asked what would be the PML-N’s strategy if the bill was accepted by the Pakistan government with the existing conditions, Nawaz said: “We will see when the time comes.”
He was addressing a press conference, which was also his first media interaction after returning from abroad. “The clauses of the bill are against national interests and dignitythe PML-N,” he said.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi should have taken the political parties into confidence before leaving for America, Nawaz said, adding: “The situation would not have reached such a stage had the government implemented the Charter of Democracy (CoD). We still want to implement the CoD,” he said.
Nawaz Sharif also questioned the role of the government at the time when the bill was being drafted in Washington. He said those who prepared the bill apparently accorded higher priority to the interests of the United States. “Our government should have taken prior notice of the conditions which were being included in the bill as it was not prepared overnight. Rather it took one year to finalise the controversial document,” the former prime minister said.
He maintained that parliament and the nation should be taken into confidence on such matters but the government did not deem it proper to even consult its allied parties.There is something wrong in the Kerry-Lugar Bill that angered the whole nation. To a question, he said his party had been playing its role on the KLB inside and outside parliament.
To a question about the much discussed ‘secret meeting’ of Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan with the Army chief, he said that the meeting took place on security issues. He, however, clearly indicated his displeasure with the manner the meeting took place. “I agree that any such meeting should take place openly and not in the darkness of the night.”
He said a US bill was also passed in 2002 but at that time political parties and the media had remained silent. “That bill should also have been debated,” he said. He did not elaborate, however, why his own party had not raised this issue at the time or even afterwards.
Nawaz said the country needed a national action plan on economy to achieve self-reliance. In this connection, he offered his party’s cooperation to the government and constituted a committee headed by former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar. He said the PML-N would consult all political parties inside and outside parliament in finalisation of the action plan.
He recalled that Pakistan was offered billion of dollars when the country was about to become a nuclear power but his government gave preference to national interests and decided to go ahead with nuclear tests. He regretted the international and domestic borrowing in the last 10 years had increased from Rs 3,000 billion to Rs 8,000 billion.
Nawaz made it clear that the PML-N would not become part in any attempt to destabilise the government and the democratic process. The former prime minister dispelled the impression that the Saudi government had advised him not to participate in the polls, which prompted the Punjab government to request for postponement of the November 7 elections in NA-123 Lahore. He said Saudi Arabia should not be dragged into Pakistan’s politics. “They are our friends and well wishers.î
The PML-N leader also chaired a consultative meeting of the party’s senior leaders at the Punjab House. The main agenda items of the meeting were the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the security situation in the country.
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