- Former president suggests grand alliance to defeat PML-N, PPP in next general election
Former president Pervez Musharraf, who now heads the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), has said that the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are set to win the next general elections, likely to be held in 2018, unless a grand alliance of various parties is made to defeat these two parties.
Addressing a press conference, he said that there was a 90% chance that the PML-N and the PPP would win the next general elections from their traditional strongholds, including from possibly the Pakhtunkhwa, if a third force was not formed to mount a challenge.
He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran khan alone cannot defeat the PML-N and the PPP because he has no plan. He assured the PTI chairman that he (Musharraf) was not interested in taking over the office of the prime minister.
Musharraf was accompanied by officer bearers of his party including Afzaal Siddiqui, Tebraiz Aurah and Shaan Abidi. “Imran Khan has done a lot to raise awareness on Panama Papers case and other issues and deserves credit for that but he needs new thinking and rise above himself and look beyond,” he said.
“I say openly I have no desire to become the prime minister of Pakistan. I am not insecure and I can guarantee that I am ready to shake hand with Imran Khan and for that matter anyone on this planet who is against the PPP and PMLN,” the former president said.
When asked when he will return to Pakistan, Musharraf said that he was trying to get his cases resolved through courts but would return once there was mass public support behind him. He said that he was avoiding Pakistan because there’s no point in returning if his freedom of movement was restricted.
He said that change was needed in Pakistan because the country faces internal and external threats. “Our economy is going down. Pakistan’s debt has crossed 70 billion rupees. We were about to be declared defaulted in 1999. I took Pakistan forward. I gave confidence to Pakistan. Everybody today wants to leave Pakistan. Those in Pakistan are in a bad shape and I have the right solutions,” he said.
Musharraf said that former Indian prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh were good people and wanted to normalise relations with Pakistan but (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s intentions were against Pakistan. India’s institutions were fundamentally against Pakistan, he told a questioner.
“India realises that there is no military solution in respect to Pakistan, so they are looking for non-military solutions by strangulating Pakistan’s economy, weakening Pakistan army, isolating Pakistan internationally and internally destabalising Pakistan. This is what India’s strategists are saying,” he said.
On the question of former army chief Raheel Shareef taking up position as head of Saudi-led military alliance, Musharraf said that it was a sensitive matter and was being seen in many circles in sectarian terms. He said that ambiguities exist around Raheel Shareef’s appointment.
“If the position were offered to me by Saudi Arabia, I would have asked what the job is going to be, who I am going to lead and what are aims and objectives of this alliance,” he said, adding that Raheel Shareef was an excellent man, he hoped that the former army chief would make good use of his new role.
