LAHORE: Nawaz Sharif has criticised the new US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, telling the FT that it was only slightly different from the disastrous one pursued by George W Bush.
“Mr Obama has now come up with a new policy with little changes, very minor changes as compared to the last policy,” said Nawaz. “But I think the consultative process is better than what it used to be during Mr Bush’s time.”
Nawaz said Bush’s policy had helped promote terrorism by backing General Pervez Musharraf. “[Mr Bush] gave blind support to Mr Musharraf and he turned a blind eye to all the atrocities at home that Mr Musharraf committed in his eight year dictatorial rule — [he] never was keen that Pakistan should get back to the democratic path.”
Last week, Obama launched a new strategic partnership with Pakistan, offering a combination of military and development assistance to help the country recover the menace of a growing insurgency.
He described al-Qaeda as a “cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within,” and called the border area with Afghanistan the ìmost dangerous place in the worldî. The leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) accused Zardari of breaking promises to give up the enhanced powers he inherited from the military ruler Pervaz Musharraf.
“We’ll keep pushing now. I am determined to push [to strip the president of his additional powers]. The satisfaction I derive from what Iím doing now is much more than I used to get when I was the prime minister of this country,” he said. Nawaz sketched a vision of the countryís political future built on strengthening political institutions to keep the army out of power. His goal is to place Pakistan among the worldís stable democracies, overcoming its propensity for military takeovers and reversing the loss of territory to militant Islamist groups.
“We have a parliamentary democracy in Pakistan as you have in Britain, as they have in India. We want to follow the same system. It is the prime minister who runs the show, who is the chief executive of the country,” said Nawaz.
He also said he wanted the Charter of Democracy, agreed with Benazir Bhutto, his assassinated political rival, enshrined in law. “We made a very good beginning in 2008 after the elections and I was very hopeful that now things will move forward because Zardari and I signed that agreement. But soon, Zardari wriggled out of that commitment,” said Nawaz.
“Of course, at the time of Musharrafís resignation again when we were all planning to impeach him, another agreement was signed. That was not honoured by Zardari. I also felt let down, disappointed and dismayed as to why Mr Zardari was not fulfilling his promises.”
The News (Pakistan)