PML-N and PPP call Jamali’s speech a lie

* Say present political order has banished real leaders

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on Sunday made a scathing attack on Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali for “lying to the nation about the performance of his government which was still under the military dictatorship.”

“Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali’s speech was a self-serving exercise aimed at glorifying a helpless and powerless civilian government which is still under the military dictatorship and devoid of any substance,” PPP Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

“Whatever Mr Jamali said made no sense at all,” PML-N Spokesman Siddiq-ul-Farooq said.

“Even General Musharraf admitted before newspaper editors at an Iftar dinner that the country was facing political instability, lack of inter-provincial harmony and an increase in poverty and prices of food items,” he added. Mr Farooq said Pakistan had been isolated because of the government’s policies and the United States had turned a deaf ear to Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. Mr Babar rejected Mr Jamali’s claim that his government brought political stability to the country.

“The political order that the prime minister speaks of has banished real leaders from the country”, he said. “Under the present order, the General Headquarters writes and adopts the constitution of Pakistan,” he added. “The world regards Pakistan’s current political order as sham and undemocratic, which is why the Commonwealth of Nations has refused Pakistan’s re-entry to the group,” Mr Babar added. “It is not a order that the PM should be proud of,” he added. “If he wishes to do lasting service to democracy, he must come out of the dark shadow of his ‘boss,’ ” Mr Babar said.

Karachi Correspondent adds: PPP Information Secretary Taj Haider said Mr Jamali has given birth to speculations that the government has accepted the Line of Control as international border by linking Lahore-Amritsar Bush service with Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Bus Service.“As far as the diplomatic language is concerned, it’s inappropriate to mention two different things in a similar perspective. Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Bus service should be for Kashmiri people but the prime minister did not explain it in his speech, thereby creating a lot of ambiguity,” said Mr Haider.

PML-N leader Zain Ansari, who happens to be the provincial secretary general of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy also criticised Mr Jamali. “Mr Jamali’s claim that the government believes in the politics of honesty and has shunned the politics of victimisation is a lie,” he said. Mr Haider said travel restrictions between Pakistan and India should be eased but there must be a difference between travelling via an international border and the LoC. “Totally fraud,” was his response to the address of the prime minister. Regarding the economic revival and prosperity, he said, $ 4.5 billion were purchased from the international market. “You’ll earn commissions if you sell or buy dollars,” he said.

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