LAHORE: Criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement that the armed forces support the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) manifesto, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has demanded that the institution must clarify its position on it.

“The army must clarify its position on Imran Khan’s statement that it is standing by his party’s manifesto which contains objectionable things against the opposition,” PPP’s Punjab president Qamar Zaman Kaira said here on Tuesday.

“Whether ISPR (public relations wing of the army) silence on the statement should be taken as an endorsement? Should we construe from it that (the institution) is not standing by the manifestos of other parties?”

Offers cooperation in reforming NAB to make its prosecution more result-oriented

Explaining his objection at a joint press conference with Chaudhry Manzoor, the PPP leader said institutions must stand by the decision of a government and not manifesto because manifestos were chalked out by political parties and not governments.

He said they welcomed the (army’s) cooperation with the incumbent government with the question that this kind of cooperation was not extended to past governments. “Are those laying down their lives for the solidarity of the country not Pakistanis?” he asked, regretting that IJI (a political alliance formed against the PPP ahead of the 1988 polls) and Patriots (a splinter group of the PPP parliamentarians formed in 2002) were formed against his party.

Mr Kaira also chided the prime minister for saying that had the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) been under his control, he would have jailed at least 50 opposition leaders.

He dared Mr Khan to move the FIA, the investigation agency under the federal government control, if he had credible corruption evidence. “The prime minister has rather committed dishonesty by not forwarding the corruption evidence to NAB.”

Mr Kaira offered the opposition’s cooperation in reforming NAB to make its investigations and prosecution more result-oriented.

He also challenged Mr Khan to make public the names of those who had stashed over $11 billion in foreign banks.

The PPP leader criticised the premier for vowing to run the government through ordinances. He wondered why the government was afraid of law-making though the opposition had time and again offered its cooperation for it in the larger national interest.

He reminded the rulers that promulgating ordinances had become a temporary solution after the 18th Amendment because an ordinance had to be tabled before the relevant elected assembly in the first session to be convened after its promulgation. “The prime minister is satisfied neither with the judiciary, nor with NAB, opposition parties and assemblies. Which forum would be acceptable to him?” Mr Kaira asked.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018