LARKANA, Jan 7: Former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali on Sunday welcomed contacts between Pakistan People’s Party and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League saying it would greatly benefit the country.

Talking to reporters after offering condolences to Akhtar Abbasi on the death of his father, he said that Gen Musharraf sincerely desired to hold election in a transparent manner.

He said that it looked quite premature to comment on the outcome of the All-Parties Conference (APC) being convened by PML (N) in London. Time was the best judge and it would determine the conference’s results, he said.

“I don’t know if Mian Nawaz Sharif or Ms. Benazir Bhutto had gone abroad under any kind of deal,” he said adding that he had offered both of them to come back when he was prime minister.

Explaining differences between ‘negotiations’ and ‘deal’ Mr Jamali said that talks between PPP and government had been going on for long and in politics ‘negotiations’ were always a welcome sign.

He evaded giving a direct answer to a question about ‘enforced disappearances’ of people and said the government should clear the whole matter.

He agreed to Gen Musharraf’s statement that ‘uniform had nothing to do with democracy’, saying “Yes, there is no link between the two as both are different”. People had not made him Chief of Army Staff and he had earned the post through his own efforts and ability so it was his prerogative to shed uniform or not. Why should he shed uniform on people’s demand, asked Mr. Jamali.

He said that since 1985 he had been a strong supporter of Kalabagh Dam and there had been no change in his point of view, he said, adding that Kalabagh Dam was to be built in 1995 but it was stopped under political considerations. Gen Musharraf was not rigid on the dam’s issue but he was insisting on it because the project was in the interest of Pakistan, he said.

His (Jamali) differences with Chaudhry Shujaat were not personal, they were political, and he had always wanted to see PML a united party, he said. Commenting on Saddam Hussain’s execution he said that the whole affair was handled in an improper way. In 2003 he had cancelled his scheduled visit to the US as prime minister when the US attacked Iraq. “The US ambassador asked about it and I told him very clearly you have attacked a Muslim country and I am also a prime minister of a Muslim country”.