Caretaker govt facilitating Nawaz’s return: PPP

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Friday alleged the caretaker government was acting as a ‘facilitator’ for return of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supremo Nawaz Sharif to the country.

“The way Nawaz Sharif got relief from courts is unprecedented and it has become clear that the PMLN is expert in seeking relief from judiciary,” said PPP Secretary General Nayyer Hussain Bokhari in a statement on Friday.

He reiterated the party demand for announcement of general election schedule by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying that elections should be held in the last week of January. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to sheer violation of the Constitution, he added.

He said serving the country and the nation was history of only the PPP, and party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would be the next prime minister, and not Nawaz Sharif.

The PPP secretary general said the PMLN sought the help of the PPP to make Shehbaz Sharif the prime minister and had the PPP not voted in his favour, he [Shehbaz] would have never become the premier. Bokhari said the PPP was ready to talk to political parties but not with attackers of the national security institutions.

He said the PPP was founding party of the Constitution of Pakistan and it offered sacrifices for restoration of the Constitution and passed the 18th Constitutional Amendment to restore the Constitution in its original shape.

Separately, PPP Punjab Secretary General Hassan Murtaza told the media on Friday his party wanted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) presence in the electoral process. Flanked by the PPP provincial leadership, he said only the 'ladla' (blue eyed) had changed, but the shoulder supporting that 'ladla' remained the same. "When will the time come when there will be people's rule in the country,” he raised a question adding that if the country was run in that way, the next government would be invisible. “If the ‘military wing’ of the PTI ends, then the party should not be pushed to the wall,” the PPP leader said.

While welcoming the PMLN supremo in Pakistan, Hassan Murtaza said the election process would seem complete once Nawaz would be part of it.

"We welcome Mian Sahib because without him, the PPP considers the election incomplete," added Hassan Murtaza. He said Nawaz Sharif's conviction might be wrong, but the relief received by him from courts was also wrong.

Responding to a question, the PPP leader asserted that the PTI should also get a chance to contest elections. He grilled the PMLN leader Khawaja Asif, and termed him a 'match fixer', adding that he was misleading the nation by claiming that no relief had been given to Nawaz Sharif.

Hassan Murtaza also said that the question posed by the PPP about the source of funding of Minar-e-Pakistan event was still unanswered. He said people would not turn up on the call of PMLN and the effort would fail miserably. Rather, he claimed, the PPP victory in the next general election would be an eye opener for many.

Hassan Murtaza criticised the caretaker government and said it was doing everything that was not to be done by it. "Conducting elections is their only responsibility, which is not being done. The surprise is that privatisation policy of the PMLN is being moved forward by them,” said Murtaza.

Expressing solidarity with Palestinians, the PPP leader strongly condemned the Israeli aggression at Gaza.

Chaudhry Aslam Gul, Mian Ayub, Rana Jameel Manj, Faiza Malik, Allama Yusuf Awan, Ayesha Ghori, Ahsan Rizvi, Zeeshan Shami, Afraz Naqvi were also present.