Re: Zardari says Pakistanis want Musharraf out
Also, great Zardari’s exact words were:
People want to throw Musharraf out
ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf is a “relic of the past” standing between the people of Pakistan and democracy and there is tremendous pressure on the new government to ensure his ouster from office, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said.
Though Musharraf still has considerable powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and dismiss the prime minister, the Pakistan People’s Party-led ruling coalition has to abide by the wishes of the people who want the military ruler to leave his post, Zardari said.
“The president is a relic of the past and he stands somewhere between us and democracy … He has taken off his uniform thanks to the dialogue by my (late) wife (and former premier Benazir Bhutto) and the world pressure,” Zardari told the Press Trust of India in an exclusive interview.
“But that does not make him (Musharraf) into a democrat or a civilian president. That doesn’t mean that his presidency is legal. I’ve got all these issues. I have tremendous amount of pressure from the people of Pakistan.”
The public, Zardari said, is telling the PPP that “we don’t want bread, we don’t want electricity, but we want him out”. Zardari’s comments came as a presidential spokesman asserted that Musharraf would not step down in the wake of reports that the government was finalising a package of constitutional amendments that was aimed at curbing the president’s sweeping powers. Sources close to the president also dismissed reports that he had offered to resign if the government validated actions taken by him during last year’s emergency rule.
Pointing out that he is a politician who is “amenable to my people”, Zardari said the PPP was working to “come up with a live-able formula” for ushering in full-fledged democracy because “after all that has happened, you cannot have an unelected and non-democratic president”.
“You just cannot,” he emphasised. “Now, no matter whether I like it or don’t like it, or whether he (Musharraf) likes it or anybody else doesn’t like it, I have no choice.” “For two months, I have been trying to do a whitewash or whatever you may call it to dialogue with the people of Pakistan and my party. That’s okay, let’s have national reconciliation, but people are not willing to accept my position on that.”
Asked if Musharraf’s days as president are numbered, Zardari replied: “I don’t know whether his days are numbered or my days are numbered or our government’s days are numbered. Who knows that?
“He still has 58(2b) and he has a tremendous amount of power behind him. If he moves, he moves,” he said, referring to the president’s powers under Article 58 (2b) of the Constitution that allows him to dissolve an elected parliament and thus dismiss the prime minister.
“So like my little daughter Bakhtawar would say, if you move, I move,” Zardari said, adding that the “bottom-line” is that the people of Pakistan want Musharraf to go. “And I am the servant of the people, not the master of the people,” he said.
Zardari said he had not seen the constitutional package that was being prepared by Law Minister Farooq Naek but indicated that it would curb the president’s sweeping powers and address “core issues” like the Article 58 (2b) and the need for an autonomous election commission.
“It’s a very complex issue after all. You’re talking about the future of Pakistan, the future of democracy and about the future of the Constitution. So lots of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ have to be counted,” he said.
“There’s no point in me working hard, giving my life, fighting terrorism, asking parliament and the Pakistani people to make sacrifices if you’re going to be sent home in two years,” he said, in an obvious reference to the president’s power to dissolve parliament.
Zardari also indicated that the issue of reinstating the judges sacked by Musharraf during last year’s emergency would be tackled through the constitutional package. Asked if the coalition is still strong, Zardari evaded a direct reply and said: “Any political relationship is always based on self-interest. Coalition politics is a very selfish phenomenon. Obviously, the popularity game and the game to win hearts is a two-way race and whoever wins, wins.
“So, therefore, everybody does, some less and some more, these (things so) that they can show a perspective of themselves that can get them more populist positions. That jostling between our party and Nawaz’s party goes on.”
Zardari said that while he considered Musharraf’s acts during the emergency as illegal, he would “not do another illegal act to (change) the last one”. “So instead of going for a police action to restore the judges as is being suggested, I’d rather take another path towards democracy and engage the present incumbent president (and say), ‘That’s fine, let’s talk shop and give me back all the rights that you hold against the parliament’; and that also by dialogue.
Mariana Baabar adds: Asif Ali Zardari said that Pakistan had sought India’s support for the UN-led probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
He said it would be a “monument in history” if the two countries came together on a resolution in the world body. PTI correspondent in Islamabad says Zardari made a request to visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee for India’s support to UN probe into the high-profile political murder.
“I’ve requested your foreign minister to help us get it (the request to the UN) through. So hopefully, in her death, (Bhutto) will bring us together on a resolution which would be a monument in history,” Zardari said.
“For the first time, India and Pakistan will be demanding a resolution together,” he said. Asked about Mukherjee’s response to his request, Zardari said, “I haven’t had official confirmation but he was sympathetic to my position.”
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14864
