LAHORE - Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah sees Musharraf’s arrival in Karachi a first step towards his ultimate departure for some foreign land.
Talking to the media on his arrival at the Lahore Airport on Sunday, he said that Musharraf would ultimately leave the country but things would move steadily in that direction.
“It is like riding a ladder. One step after another takes you to the top”, he remarked while commenting on reports of Musharraf’s likely departure for some other country in the near future.
He added: “If Musharraf leaves abroad from Karachi, the responsibility would be shifted on to the provincial government of Sindh”.
In the context of ongoing civil-military tension, the Opposition leader was asked whether the PPP stood with the PML-N or the Pakistan Army. “We are neither with PML-N nor with the Army. We are with the people of Pakistan”, he observed.
He, however, said that country could not afford any military adventure at this time. “But I don’t see any such eventuality taking place because democracy is strong and the independent judiciary is also there”, he said.
On TTP-Government negotiations, he said that nothing of the sort was in place. “The government is only fulfilling a formality for public consumption”, he said, adding, that nothing would come out of the exercise.
To a question about Nawaz-Zardari meeting, he said that most of the discussion revolved around PPO. “We told Nawaz Sharif that the PPO, if passed in its present form, could be used against him one day”
He said that former President also advised the Prime Minister to consult the Opposition parties before making any legislation to evolve consensus.
He took pride in stating that previous PPP government had passed a total of 139 bills during its five year tenure and 98 per cent of them were adopted unanimously. “This was because of PPP government’s policy of making legislation by taking the Opposition parties on board”, he added.