Those ran away seeking deal with dictator, are now proclaiming democracy: Zardari

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has taken a dig at those leaders who are now championing the cause of democracy and demanding repeal of the 17th Amendment, saying they had chosen to run away from the country after seeking “forgiveness” from the military dictator.

The attack came during President Zardari’s interaction with a group of PPP leaders and workers belonging to Rawalpindi Division, who called on him at the Presidency on Saturday night.

The sources said it was clear that he was responding to the press conference of Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad last week in which he had claimed that dictatorship was still intact.

He reminded the Sharif brothers they had left the country at the time when the country and democracy needed their presence here. “I think those handkerchiefs with which these leaders wiped off their tears while in jail might still be available with the jail staff”, a source present in the meeting quoted President Zardari as saying.

In the same breath he also blasted the Pakistani media for being against the PPP on ideological basis and targeting the government without any valid reasons. Although the president is reported to be already angry with the media, the latest onslaught came after reports in a section of the press that a sum of Rs500 million was taken out of the secret fund of the Intelligent Bureau (IB) and given to four people close to the Presidency to launch campaign against the journalists and even pay them heavy amounts to keep them quiet.

President Zardari chose to lash out at Mr Sharif on the eve of Rehman Malik’s meeting with Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif in Raiwand on Sunday. Rehman Malik was very close to Nawaz Sharif when the latter was the chief minister Punjab.

The sources said President Zardari was using carrot and stick policy as, on the one hand, he was sending Rehman Malik to use his old relationship with the Sharif family and make him soften his stance and, on the other, he was delivering hard-hitting speeches in the party meetings against the Sharif brothers.

Some insiders said Zardari was unhappy with the press conference of Nawaz Sharif in which he had termed the present government a continuation of military dictatorship.

Defending the role of his party in saving Pakistan at crucial times, the President told his party men he wondered how Nawaz Sharif could taunt the PPP, whose leaders Z A Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto laid down their lives for the sake of democracy. He was of the view that the power was always handed over to the PPP when the country was on the brink of disaster, whether in 1971, 1988, 1993 or 2008. Whenever the country became ungovernable because of the follies of others, the PPP was asked to come and put the house in order, he remarked. But as soon as the situation improved, the non-democratic forces always attacked PPP and dismissed its governments. He said similar conspiracies are once again being hatched against the PPP government.

The President also told the party men he would hand over party leadership to his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at an appropriate time, as this was the will of his late spouse and he would see to it that it was fulfilled.

The sources said during the meeting some party leaders also took Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez to task and told the president that the minister cared only for his constituency in Gujar Khan.

Likewise, one MNA is said to have also agitated that one of the top officials of oil and gas had humiliated him by saying that he had paid a lot of money to get this posting so no one could do anything against him.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19719