ISLAMABAD: National Party (NP) chairman and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo on Sunday called for a grand debate among key state institutions to take the country forward in a respectable manner and defuse an atmosphere of tension.

“The time has come for the politicians, the judiciary and the army to hold dialogue to ensure that they would remain in their limits. Because of strained civil-military relations, trust level has been continuously decreasing. Elites in both institutions may not suffer as they can leave the country but 200 million poor people will suffer if tension continues,” he said while speaking at the workers’ convention of his party at the National Press Club.

Mr Bizenjo said that if armed forces realised that they had made mistakes in the past, politicians would also admit that they had made mistakes and after that situation would normalise.

Referring to the mistakes made in the past, he said that Pakistan would never have been involved in the Afghan war during the 1980s and in the “war against terrorism” during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s era had there been understanding between civil and military institutions.

Urges armed forces, politicians to admit mistakes made in past

“We demanded that banned organisations should not be supported but they were continuously encouraged by state institutions. Finally when we all realised that things have gone totally against Pakistan, we tried to rein in non-state actors through a presidential ordinance before the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force in Paris,” he said. “It is unfortunate that most of 20 organisations banned by the United Nations are from Pakistan.”

He requested the judiciary, politicians and armed forces to normalise the situation, warning “otherwise we will be fixed”.

“Our rupee will be devalued and its value may drop to Rs200 against the dollar. We should not ignore the examples of Afghanistan and Iran where currencies were drastically devalued and people badly suffered.”

Commenting on the alleged horse-trading during recent Senate elections, Mr Bizenjo said that only transparent elections could guarantee transparent governments.

“Whatever happened during the Senate elections was wrong. Intelligence agencies should remain limited to their job. Only people have the right to elect their governments. This right cannot be given to the armed forces,” he said.

Tahir Bizenjo, a newly elected senator of the NP, also alleged that horse-trading took place during the Senate elections and said that suo motu notice taken by the Election Commission was a good omen.

“Some elements believed that the entire Balochistan Assembly was for sale, but the NP and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party proved that their parliamentarians were not for sale and they believed in democracy,” he said.

Akram Baloch, another newly elected senator of the NP, said that his party needed the voice of the people of Punjab, which counted in Pakistan, to stop such practice in future.

President of the NP’s Punjab chapter Ayub Malik and secretary general Talib Hussain also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2018