LAHORE -
A seemingly disturbed former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday declared that he was ready to face arrest but won’t appear before any inquiry.
“It is too much now. I have decided not to appear before any inquiry any more. But I am ready for arrest if someone so desires,” he said while talking to journalists at his Lahore residence.
The former prime minister, who appeared much agitated, said that he was being humiliated in courts almost on daily basis in the name of NAB and FIA inquiries, which, he said, was unbearable for him.
He said his decision not to appear before any inquiry was final and he was ready for the arrest any time.” I am not afraid of arrests and jails and I could not be cowed down through such tactics,” Gilani remarked, adding that he and his family members were being pushed against the wall in the name of fake inquiries.
He also claimed that he enjoyed constitutional immunity for all his actions he took as country’s prime minister. Gilani said that he had appointed Haj DG Rao Shakil and Ogra chief Tauqeer Sadiq using his powers as the prime minister. He wondered why he was being implicated in the personal corruption of these officers. “How could the prime minister be held responsible for the corruption of officers appointed by him,” he questioned.
He complained that office of the former prime minister was being humiliated by making him appear before the inquiry committees. “Why the tradition has been set to victimize a PPP prime minister when he or she is not in power,” he asked.
Gilani said there was no political prisoner in his tenure as prime minister and nobody was victimised for political reasons.
Replying to a question, the former premier said that PPP was the second largest party at the moment and would stage a comeback soon.
He said the crisis the PPP was in at the moment was transitory in nature and would be over after some time. “The PPP is a party of martyrs and would again be in the political arena to take on its political opponents,” he hoped.
“All rival parties had a free hand to run their election campaign but the PPP had no level playing field to reach out to its electorate,” he affirmed. Answering another question, he said that drone attacks could not be averted by seeking votes in the name of stopping the drones. He was of the view that no single party could face the challenges of stopping drone attacks and getting rid of terrorism and extremism. “We need national cohesion to meet these challenges,” he averred.