LAHORE: Former president Asif Ali Zardari wonders why former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is not surrendering before the court’s verdict.

“When a court has given its judgement then why is Nawaz Sharif not accepting it?” the PPP co-chairman asked in reference to the Panama Papers case here on Friday.

Terming the former premier’s statements dangerous that “there will be no democratic system if he (Mr Nawaz) is not in the game”, Zardari recalled that the PPP too had introduced a new prime minister (Raja Pervaiz Ashraf) after a previous one (Yousuf Raza Gilani) was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

“Nawaz’s approach that if he isn’t in the game there will be no democratic process is dangerous,” he said in an informal talk with a group of reporters.

Says PPP won’t accept a venue for grand dialogue where ex-PM can also participate

The former president said he had always sided with political forces and tried to unite them on a single platform. He had always tried to let the democratic process move forward which was why he was urging that the process should be strengthened.

“How can a grand dialogue be held just to save one person,” he questioned in reply to a question, adding that “the venue for holding any grand national dialogue is parliament [where Mr Nawaz is now a stranger after being disqualified by the apex court]”, implying that the PPP would not accept any venue where the former PM could also take part in negotiations.

He disclosed that he had once desired to visit Mr Nawaz to offer condolences on the demise of the latter’s brother but the former premier refused to receive him “just to appease the non-political forces”.

He regretted that Nawaz had left for Saudi Arabia after striking a “deal” with the then army ruler retired Gen Musharraf in 2000 while he (Mr Zardari) preferred to remain imprisoned when he could have got anything from the dictator.

Answering a question about Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani’s assertions for a dialogue among parliament, military establishment and judiciary, the PPP leader said that the leader of opposition in the Upper House, Aitzaz Ahsan, had expressed his (Mr Zardari’s) views, while Mr Rabbani is an independent intellectual, implying that the PPP-backed Senate chairman’s views were not endorsed by the party.

About the May 2013 general elections’ outcome, Zardari said he accepted the results as a compulsion to avert political crisis in the country. “Had I not accepted the returning officers’ mandate there would have been a big political crisis,” he said in reference to the allegations that the elections had been rigged by the PML-N through the returning officers taken from the then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry-led judiciary.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017