Political leadership enjoying the full backing of Al-Qaeda has been venting their spleen against President Pervez Musharraf and the United States. They have been inciting the people for a bloody revolution.
Chief of the Pakistan Muslim League Mian Nawaz Sharif, who was allowed to return to the country after pressure from the US administration, has said it was high time that the nation got ready for a revolution as the mission of the Feb 18 elections had not been accomplished yet. He said the nation was required to play its part in wiping out the dictatorship from the country for good. According to a report from Lahore, the hometown of PML leader, PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif rejected a safe exit for President Pervez Musharraf, insisting he must be tried for high treason.
Addressing a gathering of charged party workers at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal on the 10th Yaum-e-Takbeer, Nawaz said had he been in power, Musharraf would have been dismissed on Feb 19, just a day after the general elections.
He said PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had not yet removed Musharraf, adding that the PPP leader had, however, promised to oust the president. Senior party leaders, including Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, and Khwaja Saad Rafiq were also present on the occasion.
"I forgive Musharraf for all he did to me, my family and my old father. I forgive him for arresting, chaining me for seven hours in an aircraft and keeping me in a dungeon for 14 months, but the nation can't spare a person who sold his innocent countrymen to foreign powers in exchange of dollars, killed innocent children in the Lal Masjid operation and damaged the future of the country's youth," said an emotionally-charged Nawaz.
The former premier asked the charged audience if they could spare Musharraf, to which they responded with an emphatic 'No." Nawaz said Musharraf had himself said he would quit if the nation rejected him. "The Feb 18 elections showed that the nation didn't want the dictator but even then he is still clinging to power." Even after the results of the Feb 18 elections, he added, Musharraf was trying to derail democracy, and to fulfill his nefarious designs.
The PML-N Quaid said it was high time that the nation got ready for a revolution as the mission of the Feb 18 elections had not been accomplished yet. He said the nation was required to play its part in wiping out the dictatorship from the country for good.
He said Musharraf had put the country under siege as well as making the nation surrender before the world. He said the people wanted to make their own decisions and not take dictation from Washington.
He said some 10 years ago, despite a lot of pressure, he took the bold step of making Pakistan a nuclear power and the whole world recognised the importance of Pakistan. He said it was after Pakistan had conducted nuclear tests that the Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Pakistan and the country was honoured in the global community.
When he was removed from power in 1999, Nawaz said, there were no suicide attacks, high prices or other problems but it was Musharraf who had brought the country to the present situation.
He said there were many security risks and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto was also slain during the elections, but he went to every nook and corner, throwing caution to the wind. Though his life was at risk, he said, workers attended the party meetings in large numbers. He also praised the role and contribution of the media.
PML-N's Punjab President Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa in his address said the decision taken by Nawaz Sharif to go nuclear some 10 years ago was not only a historic step but it also won the hearts of the people. He presented a souvenir from the Punjab PML-N to the party Quaid. APP adds: Nawaz Sharif said the forces attempting to divide the ruling coalition would fail.
Talking to reporters on his arrival from Islamabad at the Allama Iqbal International Airport here, he said, "The designs of the dividing forces will never succeed and they will face an utter failure in creating schisms in the ruling coalition."
In answer to a question, he said consultations on the proposed constitutional package were underway and the deposed judges' issue would be resolved soon. He said the public would not be disappointed with regard to the restoration of judges, the freedom of judiciary and the supremacy of the Constitution and the law.
Despite immense foreign pressure, he said, they conducted nuclear tests in Chaghai on May 28, 1998 and made Pakistan the seventh nuclear state. He said they would continue their struggle to make Pakistan an invincible country and paid tribute to the great services of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.
