ISLAMABAD - Political gurus including a former prime minister have advised the government, Chairman Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri to avoid political confrontation and find out political ways to resolve current political crisis for continuation of democracy in Pakistan.
At the same time they advised Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to engage more political persons to resolve political issues.
Talking to The Nation former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that recent political crisis was self-created by the government which could have been diffused easily. Gilani stated that the government should have launched FIR on day one as well as the government could have stopped or convinced the people not to hold gatherings on the Constitution Avenue.
He pointed out that the government involved the non-political people including advisors, technocrats and relatives for solving the political issue and mishandled the case of Model Town incident. He mentioned that the government could have avoided the recent crisis if it had launched the FIR after the incident. He added that that only Chief Minister Shahbaz Sahrif and Rana Sana Ullah might have faced the case in that situation but the government took 65 days for registering FIR of murder of 14 people.
The former PM said that due to mistakes of the government and ego of few senior members of PML-N, a non-issue has been made a burning issue. He advised the government, Imran and Qadri to focus on the negotiations and find political and constitutional way of the crisis.
Gilani clarified that Pakistan People Party (PPP) believed in democracy and it sacrificed its elected PM for the cause of democracy in Pakistan. The PPP leadership is playing its role for settling the issues and it will also continue its role for securing democracy in the country, Gilani added.
Chairman Qaumi Watan Party and senior leader Aftab Sherpao while sharing his views with The Nation on current political situation said that PM Nawaz Sharif should not resign and neither martial law should be imposed nor national government should be constituted in Pakistan. Sherpao said the government accepted all the demands of the protestors expect PM’s resignation and now Imran and Qadri should finish their sit-ins and allow the people to go back to their homes.
He discussed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak was speaking against elected PM and KP cabinet members were using the official protocol for attending Imran’s speeches daily. He asked Imran Khan that poor people of KP cast their precious votes for PTI for better future but they were facing the problems and their elected MPs had not been in their access since the day of general election.
He added that Imran and Qadri brought innocent people at Constitution Avenue and both of them would be responsible if any untoward incident happened. He said all political parties should raise voice for their constitutional demands and always support democratic system in Pakistan.
A senior leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Haji Adeel said as a political worker he could not understand the demands of resignations of the PM and CM by PTI and PAT. He stated if the government was accepting five out of six demands of Imran Khan then it was Imran’s success. He said if the government fulfilled the five demands of PTI including reforms in electoral process, it would be a great job of Imran. He said that PM Sharif and CM Sharif should not resign on the wishes of two parties.
Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch said that Imran should accept formation of Supreme Court commission for investigation into election rigging. He said if the SC commission proved rigging then the PM should resign and announce election in Pakistan within 60 days under the constitution. He condemned the way of protests by PTI and PAT for fulfilling their demands and said that PTI and PAT were setting up wrong precedent for prime minister’s resignation.