ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party yesterday did not rule out a meeting between the party’s top leadership and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after the PML-N supremo returned home from jail.
Speaking at a joint news conference here, PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said the party leadership – Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - had met Nawaz Sharif previously and there was nothing wrong in such interactions.
“They (the PPP leaders) have met him (Nawaz Sharif) in the past. They can do that again,” Kaira said as Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed added: “This time may be he (Nawaz Sharif) can come to thank us.”
This month, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had met Nawaz Sharif in the Kot Lakhpat jail. Later, he said Nawaz Sharif did not seem to have struck a deal with the government and had himself claimed that he would stand firm on ideology.
He maintained that Sharif had served as the PM thrice and medical care demanded by him should be made available to him. Bilawal said he had discussed the performance of sitting government with Sharif during the meeting.
He was sentenced to seven-year jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference by the accountability court in Islamabad in December last year.
Sharif’s plea for bail on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference conviction was turned down by the Islamabad High Court last month following which he has moved the Supreme Court which allowed him six months bail on medical grounds.
The three-time prime minister has been relocated between Kot Lakhpat Jail and hospital multiple times on the recommendation of the medical board. He was moved back to the Kot Lakhpat jail from the Jinnah hospital a few weeks ago. Yesterday, Sharif returned to his private residence in Raiwind after a medical checkup.
Kaira and Ahmed said the PPP was not conspiring to topple the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf-led government but would not tolerate anti-people decisions by the rulers.
“As our chairman (Bilawal) has said, we will not try to dislodge the government. Our struggle will only be for the rights of the people. We will support the government on right decision,” Kaira said.
He said if the PPP decided to come to the streets, there will be nobody to stop them. “The government is already shocked at the response Bilawal got in his Karwan-e-Bhutto march. They cannot afford the PPP workers to gather in the capital,” he contended.
Kaira said the government was not serious to discuss the anti-terror policy. “When India attacked we stood with the armed forces and the government. We are united on the national issues but the government did not even invite through the concerned minister to discuss the terrorism issue,” he added.
The PPP leader said the government had arrested the party activists who gathered to support their leaders during the appearance before the court.
“These political workers are being kept in death cells. They are only political workers. They did not violate any rule. They must be immediately released. The government should not force us to protest,” he warned.
Kaira said the bureaucracy should work as the servants of the state not of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “They (the administration) should know the time can change. This is not a warning. It’s only an advice that they should stay neutral,” he added.
The former minister said 21000 students who were getting scholarships in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw had been proven ‘fake.’
Speaking on the occasion, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said that the government cannot defeat Bhuttoism. He said the government had claimed to provide food to the protesters but cannot even digest Bilawal’s march in Sindh.
He said Zulfiakr Ali Bhutto was executed in Rawalpindi but he advocated unity of the federation. Ahmed said Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi but she supported national politics. The PPP leader said Bilawal was also a believer in the federation but the rulers “accuse us of playing the Sindh card.”