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Friday March 29, 2024

Nothing is personal for politicians: Khursheed

Says Imran should go abroad on vacation instead of arguing with journalists; Bilawal wants to contest next elections

By our correspondents
November 05, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday said politicians were public property and there was nothing personal about the politicians.
He said that Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, should go abroad on vacation for a few days and should not scuffle with journalists. He said that Pakistan People’s Party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had expressed his desire to contest the next general elections.
“Though I proposed to him to contest the by-election for the incumbent National Assembly and detailed discussions within the party were held on this issue yet Bilawal Bhutto Zardari desired to contest the next general elections for next parliament,” he said while talking to newsmen at his chamber at the Parliament House on Wednesday.
In his usual style, Syed Khursheed Shah responded to sweet and sour questions of journalists without becoming offensive and when asked about the offensive attitude of PTI chief Imran Khan in response to a question of a journalist said that politicians were public property and there was nothing personal about politicians.
He advised PTI chief Imran Khan to go on vacation for two weeks rather than argue with the media and to cool himself down after the termination of his marriage. “I pray only for better separate lives of both — Imran khan and Reham Khan— in future,” he said.
Asked about the reports of discussions within the PPP the minus-one formula to revive the party, Syed Khursheed Shah said the minus-one formula in politics of the country had been discussed since the 1950s and this always proved destructive for the country.
“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is running the party with all the powers and Asif Ali Zardari is in contact with everyone and seniors of the party are guiding Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to run the party affairs,” he said.
Syed Khursheed Shah said there was a difference between the “uncles” of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and “Uncles” of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as those uncles which were with
Benazir Bhutto had their own political agendas and all of them after the martyrdom of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed their party. But the case of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was different as none of his Uncles had any personal political agenda.
Responding to a question on the second phase of local bodies (LB) elections in Punjab and Sindh, the opposition leader said the results of first phase would also reflect in the second and third phases as in these elections the ruling party had always an advantage.
Asked whether the political decline of PTI had started in Punjab on the basis of its performance in the LB elections, he said the PTI’s political graph started to decline in Punjab but at the same time the popularity graph of PML-N had declined as independent members got elected in the Punjab in a greater number.
But when he was asked about the performance of the PPP in Punjab as it seemed that the PPP was washed out from there, the opposition leader said the PPP had an image problem in Punjab as some of its leaders thought that the people were annoyed with the PPP so they opted to contest the election as independent candidates.
In response to a question, he said the Constitution made the prime minister a powerful chief executive of the state and if he did not use his powers, the Constitution would be weakened.
On the issue of the governance, he said the impression was wrong that only civilian governance was weak as there was a need for an improvement in the governance in all the institutions of the country and even the situation was not good in the lower judiciary.
He said the main cause of bad governance was ‘one man show’ that was introduced in the dictatorship as the country was ruled more than 50 years through dictatorships and controlled democracy. “The only solution of bringing a better governance is only democracy and more democracy in which elections are continuously held on its time and all the institutions work under their constitutional ambit,” he added.
To a question of bringing a change in the NAB laws, the opposition leader said there was a need to bring changes in the accountability laws and in his personal view the concept of the plea bargain was a crime that should be deleted from the law.
In reply to a question of ban by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on election campaigning by the parliamentarians, he said it was strange and astonishing that the ECP had imposed a ban on politicians to campaign in political elections. “When candidates are contesting the elections on party tickets, how is it possible that politicians from the same party should not campaign for their candidates in a political election,” he remarked.