Let me make this clear that this is not a part of our demands and does not reflect our position: PPP chairman
DLP REPORT
ISLAMABAD
Cracks appeared in the ranks of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an anti-government alliance of opposition parties, after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday that he was “shocked” when the ex-PM Nawaz Sharif named the country’s top military leadership for orchestrating his ouster in his speech during the first rally of the alliance last month.
In October, Sharif during his speech at the PDM’s rally in Gujranwala via video link from London had blamed the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for removing his government before bringing Imran Khan into through allegedly rigged elections in 2018.
“General Qamar Javed Bajwa, you are the one who packed up our government when it was working well. Gen Bajwa, you are responsible for rigging the 2018 elections, curbs on media, abduction, torture and harassment of journalists and forcing judges to give decisions of your choice,” Sharif had said.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, Bilawal said that neither Sharif nor his party had talked about directly naming the army or ISI chiefs when the PDM’s agenda was being prepared.
“During the all-parties conference, there was debate on whether the blame should be laid on one institution or the entire establishment during the anti-government rallies,” Bilawal said and added that it was decided that “a single institution would not be named, the establishment would be”.
“I was shocked,” Bilawal said when he heard the former PM taking names of the Army and ISI chiefs in his speech.
“I was shocked because we don’t talk like this at rallies. Anyway, Nawaz Sharif heads his own party and I can’t control what he says, just like he can’t control what I say,” the PPP chairman said.
He said that the opposition did not want the military leadership to resign.
“Let me make this clear that it is not a part of our demands and does not reflect our position,” the PPP chief said.
He added that personally, he refrained from levelling accusations at rallies when it comes to his own party. “But Nawaz has the right to take such a stand if he so wishes.”
Bilawal said that the former PM would not have taken the names of Gen Bajwa and Gen Faiz without evidence.
As far as this issue is concerned, Bilawal said, Sharif would not have done so without any evidence. “Such allegations should come forward on the basis of evidence. I will wait for Nawaz Sharif to bring forward evidence supporting his claims,” he said.
Bilawal also said that bringing Prime Minister Imran Khan into power cannot be attributed to just one person (Gen Bajwa).
Sharif had not named the top military leaders only in Gujranwala rally but had also named the army and ISI chiefs as the key persons responsible for the country’s problems before and after the first PDM rally.
PML-N leader and Shari’s spokesperson Mohammad Zubair issued a statement shortly after Bilawal’s interview, saying that his party respected the PPP chief as he was a part of the opposition alliance.
“This is Bilawal’s personal opinion. Nawaz has served as the country’s PM and there was a PML-N government even after his (Nawaz’s) ouster. What he (Nawaz) said at the Gujranwala rally comes from the experience of the PML-N government,” Zubair said.
“This is obvious that it did not happen with the PPP. We think it is important to inform the people about what happened to ensure civilian supremacy so that what happened in the past is not repeated in the future. What Nawaz said was based on facts,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that Bilawal’s statement was proof of the fact that the PDM was not united in their stance.
“Bilawal has voiced his distrust of Nawaz. This proves that the alliance of opposition parties is based on vested interests,” he said.
