ISLAMABAD: The government has accused “friends of Musharraf” of being behind the chaotic campaigns launched by Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri to destabilise the country.

Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal said at a press conference on Sunday that Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif had made it clear that the army believed in the supremacy of the Constitution.

“The army is a disciplined institution and believes in the rule of law. The army chief’s statement is enough for us,” he said in response to a question about the future of democracy.

All institutions, including judiciary, army and political parties, had learnt lessons from the past after having committed mistakes over the past 65 years but “Qadri and Khan are newcomers who neither have any vision nor learnt anything,” he said Similar views were expressed by PML-N Chairman and leader of the house in the Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an Independence Day ceremony in Rawalpindi, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was under pressure to provide safe passage to former president retired General Pervez Musharraf.

In an obvious reference to the protests being organised by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehrik of Dr Qadri, he said: “The whole drama is being staged only because of the government’s decision to try the former president under Article 6 (of the constitution).

“Hidden forces” was his response when asked who was putting pressure on the government. He also accused the PTI and the PAT of promoting a foreign agenda.

Ahsan Iqbal said some friends of Musharraf were behind the campaigns launched by Imran Khan and Allama Tahirul Qadri who had secret understanding to destabilise democracy. “Their joint attack is against parliament and not the government (alone),” he said.

He said that while international agencies had upgraded Pakistan’s rating to stable from negative, Qadri and Imran were trying to destabilise the country.

He apologised to people for difficulties they faced because of “security arrangements” taken by the government in view of the protest campaigns. He said intelligence reports had warned of bloodshed and chaos and revealed that a group had planned destructive activities. They are armed heavily armed and planning to cause unrest. He said they had also attacked police stations and killed policemen.

He said Zarb-i-Azb operation had eradicated the infrastructure of terrorism and about one million people had rendered great sacrifices by leaving their homes. The people of Punjab and Islamabad and Rawalpindi were facing hardships because of steps taken to prevent a mayhem planned on Aug 10.

He said the government was not responsible for the inconvenience suffered by people but “Qadri and Khan who have chosen the Independence Day for bloodshed”.

He said elements hatching conspiracies to destabilise the country were in collusion with Qadri and Khan. “What kind of politics it is to divide the nation on Independence Day. This is not a march for Azadi but for Barbadi”, he said, adding that Qadri and Khan were creating an impression that nuclear Pakistan was not a stable country.

Mr Iqbal said that Prime Minister Sharif would launch ‘Vision 2025’ on Monday for Pakistan’s economic development. The previous PML-N government also had prepared a development vision which was discarded by former dictator Musharraf.

“Had that vision been implemented, the government would have increased the power generation capacity by about 25,000mw by now,” he said, adding that economic results could only be achieved with continuity of plans and policies.

He said Vision 2025, approved by National Economic Council in May, would not mean that the government was ignoring immediate challenges like loadshedding, unemployment and inflation. It would address the challenges in four years and ensure that enough resources would be there for future generations’ prosperity.

The minister said the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam could not be delayed anymore. “If the dam is delayed now, the crisis of water shortage will outpace energy crisis and half of Pakistan will turn into a Thar-like desert.”

He said no country could prosper without a vision and, therefore, the government was launching the Vision 2025 for future development and prosperity. The vision envisages an increase in exports to $150 billion by 2025 and laid stress on education and human development.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2014