LONDON, May 3: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif believes that a powerful prime minister functioning under the 1973 Constitution as it stood on October 12, 1999, would be able to meet all the challenges now confronting the country, including the menace of extremism.
“Democracy is the answer for all these issues, not the 17th amendment which has created them,” asserted Mr Sharif.
In a wide-ranging interview with Dawn at his party’s international headquarters here, the PML(N) leader stressed that with the restoration of genuine democracy the extremist elements would become part of the democratic process within a couple of years.
He described the current situation in Pakistan as highly disturbing. “Frankly I do not know which way we are heading, where is Musharraf taking Pakistan, I have no idea. I have been two times prime minister of Pakistan, and I am at a loss to understand which way we are heading.”
But, he said, the ongoing struggle of the bar and bench was the best thing that could have happened to Pakistan. “I never thought the protest of the bar would last for more than a couple of days, but the kind of unity and tenacity they have shown in the face of the awesome power of the military-led government and the support that they have garnered from the civil society and the educated classes as well as the intelligentsia has given me hope and reinforced my belief that the people of Pakistan will one day soon rise against the tyranny of military dictatorship,” he added.
He said that according to his information the judges sitting on the bench hearing the CJ’s petition against President Musharraf have very good reputation and are known to be upright people. He predicted that the struggle of the bar would soon turn into a national movement and blossom into a mass uprising against President Gen Musharraf right when he would be trying to seek his re-election in uniform.
He said the people had come out on the streets not to influence the relations between the judiciary and the executive. “…(I)t is not their job, but they are angry at the way the Constitution was violated by the executive in the process, the cup of their patience seems to have overflowed in the face of increasing high-handedness of one man in uniform.”
He thought Gen Musharraf was now on the losing side because, according to him, many of the PML members themselves were thinking of abandoning him and that he was also losing his US support.
When told that some people thought that in view of the ongoing confrontation between the US and Iran, Gen Musharraf has become too valuable for Washington to abandon at this juncture, Mr Sharif said he might have become more valuable for President Bush, but not for the Democratic Party which had both the houses in its control and which seemed to be favouring democratisation of Pakistan’s polity.
“And more than half of American population has also withdrawn their support from Mr Bush, so Musharraf who is already in deep waters domestically would at best have the support of an American president who has already become lame duck before time and who now needs vetoes to govern,” he added.
He said Musharraf was losing out on all fronts and the chickens are coming home to roost in the shape of the judicial crisis, the rising extremism, insurgency in Balochistan, increasing cases of suicide bombing, creeping Talibanisation, revolt in the tribal areas, depleting water resources, diminishing power generating capacities and destruction of national institutions, including his own.
He said Musharraf’s seven-year rule had turned Pakistan into an ungovernable country and that in order to bring it back from the brink, all political parties, irrespective of their ideologies, should join hands instead of looking here and there for crumbs.
When asked how could a serving chief of the army staff, even if the Constitution permitted him, contest an election in uniform, and would not his example encourage other ambitious air force and naval chiefs and corps commanders to offer themselves as well for elections, the former prime minister ridiculed the whole idea by laughingly suggesting that when he would become the prime minister next time he would ask for a general’s uniform for himself.
“Musharraf is ridiculing his own uniform, he is ridiculing his own institution, and he is trampling all norms of decency, constitutionality and the rule of law under his feet”.
He said he was not playing politics today to become prime minister of the country. “My politics is only to put the country back on the rails, my politics is only to establish the rule of law, restore the 1973 Constitution. In return whether I get something or not, it does not matter.”
When asked if Gen Musharraf wanted to keep the uniform until December 31, 2007, in order to rig the forthcoming presidential and national elections, Mr Sharif answered in the affirmative and said he needed the uniform to keep the PML members properly frightened and scared so that they would not revolt at the time of his re-election.
“I was the first one to suffer this ploy of his. He tried to frighten me with his uniform and his troops, but I refused to be frightened and stood my ground. He did the same thing with the Chief Justice and he also refused to be scared.”
When asked if it was true that at the time when the troops led by a lieutenant colonel were on way to the PM house on the Constitutional Avenue on October 12, 1999, a batch of commandos raised to be sent into Afghanistan to capture Osama had all but tried to stop the advance of these troops and thus averted a bloodbath, Mr Sharif said he had no such knowledge.
When asked for his comments on Musharraf’s mention rather indirectly in his book --- In the line of fire --- that Saeed Mehdi, his principal secretary and defence secretary Iftikhar Chaudhry were not with him on the issue of replacing Musharraf as COAS, he said he would not like to talk on the subject.
But when told that Musharraf had claimed that since the defence secretary had not issued the notification of his removal and appointment of General Ziauddin as COAS, the actions had no legal validity, Mr Sharif said it was very much legal because the order was signed by the PM and sanctioned by the President “but then even if the notification had been issued, he would have done what he did.”
When asked if Musharraf’s troops had struck according to a pre-prepared plan, he did not rule out the possibility and said he suspected that Musharraf was expecting some kind of disciplinary action against him by the government for his Kargil debacle. “Perhaps he had already prepared a contingency plan to pre-empt that, it was perhaps something akin to Chor ki darhi mein tinka.”
When asked if he had read Musharraf’s book, he answered in the negative, “because I was told it was full of contradictions, factual mistakes, grammatical mistakes and misrepresentation of facts.”
Asked if he intended to write a book now that Benazir has revised one the chapters of her book and Musharraf has come up, while still serving as president and army chief, with his own version of history of takeover and subsequent seven years in power, Mr Sharif answered in the negative. “Maybe after some time. I have no plans at the moment.”
When asked if Benazir Bhutto had used him through the ARD and Charter of Democracy to enhance her own bargaining position vis-à-vis her negotiations with Musharraf, at first he gave a broad smile and then said he still had great hopes about the ARD and the CoD.
“The CoD is a great document, it is the need of the country, we are happy and proud that we have been able to bring up a document and together we have signed it. We respect that document and if we get a chance either in the government or in the opposition we will make sure that we will implement this document in letter and in spirit, somebody else does it or not I don’t know but we are duty bound and given our pledge to implement it, it does not matter if one or the other signatory of document were to violate it, it will remain the rallying paper for the democratic minded people of Pakistan.”
When asked if he was surprised, angry, disturbed, disappointed or annoyed with the way Benazir is perceived to have violated the CoD, Mr Sharif said he would not like to comment on the matter. However, he said it was a matter that would certainly cause concern if true.
He added that he would not wish to say anything about what the other parties were up to. In answer to a question, he said he had not abandoned his plans to convene an all-parties’ conference in London. “I have asked Jhagra Sahib to consult leaders of other parties on the date for such a meeting.”
