ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said his party is neither with the establishment nor has any confrontation with it and made it clear that PPP will not enter into any alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the upcoming general elections if the latter is not interested.

Addrerssing a press conference at Zardari House on Friday, he said: “Among all civilian forces in the country, only Mian Sahib [ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif] is in a confrontation mode with the establishment, but not we [the PPP].

“We are not with the establishment, but with Pakistan. Mian Sahib should tell whether he is with Pakistan or not.”

Says PPP is not fond of alliance with PTI

The former president, however, skipped a question about his remarks against the military establishment a few years ago and commented: “You [reporter] want to make it more spicy.”

About the possibility of entering into an alliance with the PTI, he said he would not opt for it if the PTI chief was not interested in alliance with the PPP. “We are not fond of any alliance with the PTI if Imran Khan does not want so,” he added.

Fata merger with KP

Mr Zardari gave credit of the recent historic legislation regarding the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. He said the foundation of the merger was laid by Mr Bhutto when he had announced that he would merge Fata with then North-West Frontier Province (now KP) within 10 years.

He said Ms Bhutto had moved the Supreme Court seeking Fata’s merger with KP. “We had first initiated legislation and introduced political parties system in Fata,” said the former president.

Referring to a stance taken by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) president Mehmood Khan Achakzai against Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said: “I like Maulana Sahib for being democratic among leaders of religious parties and that is why he was one of our allies in the previous government, but his stance on the merger is not justified.”

Mr Zardari was of the opinion that there was a possibility of holding talks with Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the issue.

Answering the question that Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had announced that he would not sit with the prime minister for consultation on the issue of caretaker prime minister, Mr Zardari said he was not very interested in knowing who would become the caretaker premier. “In fact we have already made the Election Commission of Pakistan so strong that it can hold elections independently,” he explained.

He said his party had nominated two persons — a businessman and a retired bureaucrat — but not any retired judge for the slot of caretaker prime minister.

Talking about Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s proposal for a truth commission, the PPP co-chairman said if such a commission was made it should start unearthing facts since 1947. “Establishing truth and reconciliation commission is already a part of our manifesto,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2018