–Sanaullah says PML-N doesn’t mean Gen Bajwa or the military when it refers to Khalai Makhlooq
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah has said that the PML-N’s fight for civilian supremacy is far from over and that the party is sticking to its narrative of ‘vote ko izzat do’ (Respect the vote).
In an interview with Voice of America (VoA) on Sunday, he claimed that party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s slogan of ‘Khalai Makhlooq’ did not mean the army chief or the army as an institution.
He said Shahbaz Sharif wants to move forward with reconciliation rather than confrontation with institutions.
He said that the government ministers wanted that the opposition did not support the Army Act Bill so that it can be proved that only the government could understand that national issues.
He said that the government wanted to arrest him in Model Town case, but failed because the joint investigative team was challenged in the High Court. He said that neither an institution as a whole is wrong nor can any organization be called wrong.
He defended his party’s move to support the passage of the bills pertaining to the tenure of the services chiefs but conceded that it had made an “error” by acting in haste.
“We still stand by our stance of vote ko izzat do and civilian supremacy. Party supreme leader and ex-PM Nawaz Sharif stand by it,” the PML-N leader said as his party is facing harsh criticism for unconditionally supporting the bills, which swiftly sailed through both the houses of parliament and signed into law by the president.
The decision of the party’s leadership has left many in the ranks and files of the former ruling party red-faced, as they believe that the decision has practically smothered ideology of the party, he added.
Sanaullah maintained that there was “undue haste” by the government to have the bills passed. “Our parliamentary party became a part of this undue haste. I think we made an error there. We should have stopped it instead,” he maintained.
He said that the PML-N leader said Nawaz had instructed the party not to become part of a decision taken in haste to avoid the impression of parliament turning into a rubber-stamp.
Sanaullah further clarified that no party had opposed an extension in the army chief’s tenure and only had reservations over the procedure being followed by the government.
He said that the opposition leaders who opposed the bill had objections over the process adopted by the government, not the army chief’s extension.
