LAHORE, March 8: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) sees the proposal of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to have the army and the judiciary on board in steering the country out of crises as “anti-democratic” mindset of the PML-N.

“Sharif’s statement reflects the very mindset of the PML-N. His statement amounts to a no-trust in democracy, the people of Pakistan and even the elected house of which he is a leader,” Punjab PPP president Imtiaz Safdar Wariach said.

Talking to Dawn, Wariach said the parliament and the PPP government were fully capable of facing all the challenges. “Both the army and the judiciary are performing their duties well,” he said, adding the PPP had developed consensus among the nation on war against terror and other issues.

Besides, he said, the NFC Award, 18th and 19th Constitutional Amendments, civil nuclear energy agreement with China and gas and energy agreements with Iran and Turkmenistan were the other achievements of the government.

The PPP leader said the people had pinned all their hopes on the parliament and democratic forces to rid the country of all menaces.

It seemed that Sharif was not satisfied with the constitutional role of the army and the judiciary, Punjab PPP secretary-general Samiullah Khan said.

“Earlier, politicians invited the army alone and now Sharif is calling both the army and the judiciary. He is probably the first politician in the country’s history who is inviting the judiciary to come forward and take a slice of the pie,” he said.

Samiullah said Nawaz Sharif had shown the door to General Jehangir Karamat when he proposed that army be taken on board on the issues of national security.

He asked as to what message the chief minister wanted to give by giving such a statement.

“Is he saying that politicians are totally incapable of dealing with the challenges the country is facing right now,” he said, adding Nawaz Sharif should clear his party’s position in this regard.

PML-Q leader Muhammad Basharat Raja said Shahbaz Sharif had started looking up to the army and judiciary after losing a majority in the provincial assembly.

He said the PML-N leader enjoyed power with the support of the PPP for three years and when he managed to carve a forward bloc out of the PML-Q, he divorced his junior coalition partners on the pretext of the 10-point agenda.

The former law minister said that on the one hand Sharif was calling for convening a multi-party conference but on the other hand PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was spending his days in Switzerland.