KARACHI: Former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza claimed on Saturday he had a meeting, spanning over two hours, with ISI chief Gen Shuja Pasha a few days ago and handed over, as he put it, evidence against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement based on documents which he had carried with him in a briefcase.
“I have left some of the copies of documents with the ISI chief,” he said in an interview to a private channel.
“This was my second meeting with Gen Pasha and President Zardari knew about it,” he added.
Dr Mirza said that he did nothing without permission from President Asif Ali Zardari.
About the operation in Karachi, he said: “Orders for the arrest of killers came from above, but Rehman Malik (the interior minister) was taking credit. Rehman Malik has no courage to arrest the killers.”
He disputed an impression that the army was against the PPP government. “Postal ballots show the majority in the armed forces has always supported PPP. Only generals like Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf disliked the party,” Dr Mirza claimed. “The army always wants to assist the civilian government.”
The former provincial minister said although he was ready to appear before the Supreme Court to testify against the MQM, he would appear only if he was assured that he would be free to recall the “past and the present in its entirety”.
In reply to another question, he said if he was forced to record his statement, he would not utter a single word until his terms and conditions were accepted.
In reply to a question about his slogan Pakistan Khappe (we don’t want Pakistan) after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, he said his words were misunderstood. “I had merely said the assassination had disillusioned the masses about Pakistan, but Zardari has saved Pakistan by raising the slogan “Pakistan Khappe”.
“Pakistan will live for ever,” Dr Mirza said.
In reply to another question, he said if at any stage President Asif Zardari realised that his aides were keeping him in the dark about “ground realities”, he would not hesitate to assist Mr Zardari.
He did not agree with a perception that his inflammatory rhetoric was harming the PPP, arguing that lust for wealth was the party’s worst enemy.
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