Govt must consult all parties on national issues, Kabul: Pervaiz Ashraf

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and central leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sunday demanded the government take all political parties on board on all national issues and the policy on Afghanistan.

“We need to work together for resolution of the Afghanistan issue as Pakistan is a responsible country and peace in Pakistan depends on peace in both countries,” he said while addressing a press conference here.

He said: “No country other than Pakistan can be more concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, as more than 70,000 people and Pakistani forces have sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism.” He said Pakistan had always had a principled position i.e. maintaining good relations with all neighbouring countries.

He said three years of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had ended, but it had not fulfilled its promises made with the people. He asked the government to give importance to the parliament and legislation should be done through the public representatives.

The government alone could not deal with these problems. “We all need to sit together to overcome the challenges we are faced with,” he added. He said former president Asif Ali Zardari had said if the government would take steps, the PPP would support it. “The government is not succeeding in anything and even the government has not been able to address the underlying issues,” he said. He claimed that economic growth rate under the PPP was 5.4 percent and it went down to only 2 percent under the PTI government.

The ex-PM said the country could not be run by ordinances. “The country has serious problems and only wisdom can solve them,” he said. “The government should take the opposition parties along,” he added.

He said the PPP wanted that human rights must not be violated in the country. In reply to a question, Raja said the opposition had serious reservations about the electronic voting machines (EVMs) but the government was not listening to the opposition.