Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar on Saturday said that instant accountability process will be seen as revenge if reservations of opposition parties are not removed and no country can progress without political stability.

Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, the disgruntled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said, “I am not against the ongoing accountability process but it’s not transparent. If the reservations are not addressed it will be plain and simple political victimisation. The country can’t function without opposition.”

The senior politician said that the country is facing a severe political crisis and perhaps remaining silent is the best possible action to take. Chaudhry Nisar said that the accountability is pursued by institutions not the government.

“The government takes credit of action taken by National Accountability Bureau and the Supreme Court (SC). This is making the matter controversial. I am not in the government nor in opposition but I believe that the process is controversial. It’s the SC, not the government pursuing accountability against Omni group. We were once tangled with foreign loans now the risk is of being indebted to loans provided by the friendly states. We have received temporary aid from Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. We haven’t yet seen Prime Minister Imran Khan’s claim of self-sufficiency in action.”

Nisar said that the credit of opening of Kartarpur corridor rests with the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The former minister said that Indian PM Narendra Modi’s government does not aspire to hold good relations with Pakistan. Apologetic requests for dialogue with India is against the country s honour, he added.

“To hold a dialogue on a constant basis is not in Pakistan’s interest,” he said.

Moreover, he said that he has reservations on election results due to which he is not accepting them.

Nisar also said that if the PML-N senior high command had followed his suggestions, the party would have been in power right now.

“I suggested them to dilute their direct criticism on Army and judiciary.”

Responding to a question that reports suggest the government has offered him Punjab chief ministership, Nisar replied, “Politics is done on principals. It’s different from friendship.”

Published in Daily Times, December 30^th 2018.