SHIKARPUR: Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani has said that former president General Pervez Musharraf always misguided and misled the masses.

“Musharraf was a military dictator who used different tactics to justify his act of taking over the country. He prolonged his rule by installing a civilian set-up to name it a democratic one,” he said while speaking at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme in the local press club on Monday evening.

Mr Durrani said that the brand of democracy introduced and imposed by the dictator inflicted great damage to democratic, moral and constitutional values in the country. He said Musharraf has again resorted to misguiding Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) activists and supporters through a malicious campaign against its leadership. He had been doing the same in all provinces, especially Sindh, during his rule over the country just for political gains, the senior PPP leader claimed.

“His failure in the past has made him play the new game of sowing hatred against the PPP leadership among its supporters and creating an atmosphere of doubts, he said.

In reply to a question, the senior politician remarked that a military dictator, General Ziaul Haq, in the past had resorted to planning judicial murder of PPP founder leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the other military dictator, Gen Pervez Musharraf, hatched a conspiracy to get Benazir Bhutto assassinated. While recalling the political victimisation let loose under the rule of Gen Zia, Mr Durrani said he was “political father” of [recently ousted premier] Nawaz Sharif.

He said Gen Musharraf was one of the characters involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Benazir Bhutto and that’s why he tried in desperation to implicate her spouse, Asif Ali Zardari, in the case.

“The general should come back to Pakistan and face trial,” he said.

Replying to another question, Mr Durrani observed that Nawaz Sharif wanted to rule over the country like a king and never leave. “He doesn’t believe in democracy,” he said, adding that his removal by the judiciary had mentally disturbed him so badly that he resorted to taking on institutions like the judiciary.

Mr Durrani said Mr Sharif should better consult his lawyers to seek reply to his repeated question about why he was ousted. The bar could also teach him how to respect the bench and honour court verdicts like all noble citizens of the country were supposed to do, he said.

The Sindh Assembly speaker also stressed the need for upholding democratic values and said all political forces should protect democracy, for which countless sacrifices had been rendered by people of the country.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2017