PPP urged to adopt conciliatory stance
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ISLAMABAD: The heads of political parties urged Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday to adopt a conciliatory political stance instead of taking a confrontational approach with the establishment.
As political leaders advised caution, the PPP continued its damage control efforts and tried to clarify that Mr Zardari’s speech earlier this week was not aimed at the army, but rather at certain retired generals who had run ‘the worst kind of dictatorship’ in the country.
Heads of political parties who attended an Iftar-dinner hosted by the PPP co-chairman, however, supported the PPP’s call for all national institutions to remain within their constitutional parameters.
The ruling PML-N and the PTI did not participate in the gathering, while four other mainstream parties showed solidarity with the former president. Prominent among those in attendance on Friday night were PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, MQM’s Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, ANP leaders Afrasiab Khattak and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, and Jehanzeb Jamaldini of the BNP-A.
Know more: Zardari threatens to expose generals’ ‘misdeeds’
PML-Q, MQM, ANP, JUI-F and BNP-A leaders attend Iftar-dinner at Zardari House; PML-N and PTI opt out
Mr Zardari had extended an invitation to the heads of almost all mainstream political parties. His aide, Senator Qayyum Soomro, told Dawn on Thursday that Mr Zardari had invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the event as well.
However, on Friday, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid told Dawn that his party had not received any invitation from the PPP. The PM House also claimed on Friday that it had not received any formal invitation.
After the meeting, PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Sherry Rehman briefed the media and said the meeting had decided that Mr Zardari should continue “the politics of reconciliation”.
“Reconciliation is his defining character and all allied political parties urged him to continue his role as the ‘re-conciliator’,” Mr Kaira said.
Asked if Mr Zardari had been urged to take back his statements against the military establishment, he said that no such suggestion was floated during the meeting. “Nobody asked us to take back Mr Zardari’s statement,” he added.
Senator Sherry Rehman, however, clarified that Mr Zardari was not criticising the army and incumbent COAS Gen Raheel Sharif, but was referring to retired generals who imposed the worst kind of dictatorship in the country.
“We are not apologetic because we have talked about those retired generals who ran the worst dictatorships in the country and want to be on the political forefront even today,” she said.
Chaudhry Shujaat was the first prominent guest to reach the Zardari House and held an exclusive one-on-one meeting with Mr Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Talking to media after the meeting, Mr Hussain said that the politics of reconciliation should continue and the dignity and honour of Pakistan Army should not be affected in any manner.
He stressed that the army safeguarded and protected ideological and territorial frontiers of Pakistan. “The sacrifices offered by our officers and jawans are great and much more than people from any other institution. The army has always shed blood for the sake of the motherland and even now are offering great sacrifices on external and internal fronts,” he said.
However, he was quick to remark that “it would have been better if this consultation was held before Mr Zardari made his statement”.
Talking to Dawn after the meeting, MQM’s Farooq Sattar said he did not want to add anything to what Mr Kaira and Ms Rehman had said earlier, but confirmed that “the meeting decided that Mr Zardari should continue his reconciliatory role in politics”.
Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2015
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