PPP against sending govt home: Khursheed

Says Nawaz pointed to non-political characters as Dugdugi players; Imran not playing Dugdugi; govt should appoint senior-most general as chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and second senior-most as Chief of Army Staff

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday said his party is against sending an elected government home. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his speech, pointed to non-political characters as Dugdugi player, adding that Imran Khan was not playing Dugdugi.

“The prime minister did not call politicians ‘Dugdugi’ players as he was pointing to non-political characters,” he said while talking to newsmen at his chamber at the Parliament House.

Shah did not see any difference between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, calling them “two sides of the same coin”. He said for the PPP, both are the same as Nawaz was weakening democracy through his bad governance and Imran through his attitude. “Both pose threat to democracy,” he said.

The opposition leader questioned who was responsible of leaking information of a high-profile National Security Committee meeting to the media. “Who was the civilian who leaked the information from the Prime Minister’s House?” he asked.

He said the PML-N leader Zubair Umer had admitted to leaks of proceedings of the All Parties Conference and it could be possible that leaks of the National Security Committee were also made from the Prime Minister’s House.

He said the government put the name of a journalist on the Exit Control List one day and the other day it deleted the name. He advised that the civil-military leadership should sit together to make a decision about the national security and formulate a foreign policy.

The opposition leader said at a time when the Saarc conference was postponed, Pakistan did not have a foreign minister. He declared the PTI plan of Lock Down Islamabad a criminal act, saying that no one could restrict the movement of anyone. “Those who want to lock down Islamabad should explain their services and sacrifices for democracy,” he said.

“Sealing Islamabad is tantamount to sealing Pakistan and stopping the movement of the common man is a criminal act,” he added. Shah said he would never desire that an elected government was sent home. “The Nawaz government is weak and stuck in mire of its own problems,” he said.

He said Imran was strengthening Nawaz. He said the PPP did not support Nawaz but honour the people of Pakistan who gave him their mandate. “For us, there is no difference between Nawaz and Imran,” he added.

The opposition leader said the PML-N was in the grip of Panama scam. “They have spent more than Rs2 billion on probing the Swiss accounts but nothing has been proved yet,” he added.

He said the government should appoint the senior-most general as the chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the second senior most as the chief of the army staff. “Why the government is shy of making appointments on merit and seniority,” he added.

He said whenever appointments are made on seniority and merit, there was no issue. “After Justice Sajjad Hussain Shah, when all the appointments were made on the basis of seniority, there was no issue in the judiciary,” he added.

He said Nawaz was doing bad politics as what was the image of a leader who does not know the people’s problems and who talks about the prices of potatoes being Rs25 per kg while in the market its prices ranged from Rs60 to Rs80 per kg.