New Govt to take stock of war on terror: Nawaz
Says Parliament to frame policies
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has said parliament will now take decisions about the steps for eradication of terrorism and extremism alleging President Musharraf has used war on terror for the sake of his rule. He said this while addressing a press conference Tuesday here in Frontier House after his meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher.
PML-N chairman Raja Zafar ul Haq, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Siddiq ul Farooq, Ishaq Dar and members of national and provincial assemblies were also present on the occasion. He held Pakistan of today is not what it was on October 12, 1999. An individual trampled the independence and sovereignty of the country.
He went on to say transfer of problems rather than transfer of power was taking place. “We are facing the problems like emergency, 58(2) b, National Security Council, blood carnage, inflation, water and electricity crisis, foreign debts of Rs 42 billion and domestic debts of 2800 billion. We will brave these challenges”, he remarked. Detention of judges was a shameful drama, he said and demanded all the characters of this drama should be held accountable. All the deposed judges will soon be reinstated under Murree declaration and they will resume their duties, he hoped. Every clause of charter of democracy will be adhered to , he announced.
“I advice Musharraf to respect people mandate and step down. He should not become burden on the shoulders of nation”, he maintained. New parliament should elect new president, he added. No hindrance should be created in convening provincial assemblies, he underlined. An individual took all the decisions from 9/11 till now. Now the decisions will be taken by the parliament and elected representatives, he announced. “We will review all the policies of president Musharraf. A parliamentary committee will be constituted in this regard which will present its recommendations to parliament”, he told.
The way US wanted to see itself free from terrorism, our territories should not be bombarded, he underscored. Pakistan should become cradle of peace, he added. Regarding war on terror Mian Nawaz Sharif said president Pervez Musharraf had used this war for the sake of his own rule. Responding to a question he said today’s establishment was sitting in Aiwan-e-Sadr. On the left side of Musharraf establishment and on his right side Tariq Aziz were sitting and he was sitting in the mid of them. People are not with him”, he remarked. People have rejected Musharraf ‘s policies; he said adding parliament will now function independently. It is we rather than US have to reinstate the judges, he stressed. I have not talked to the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by telephone. Parliament is doing this job as national obligation, he remarked. “My sympathies are with 60 deposed judges who refused to take oath under the orders of a dictator, he added. Media should also participate in the accountability of president Musharraf, he stressed.
Oath under Musharraf was and is a difficult decision for our ministers, he said “ we told Asif Zardari we are with him but we don’t want to be part of power sharing. On March, 3 Asif Zardari insisted more in Murree and due to this we are ready to swallow this bitter pill, he added. If president Musharraf does not quit then we will have to do something, he announced.
US had not sought assurance from us to work with president Musharraf, he pointed out. “We have not made it part of our manifesto to appoint Dr A Q Khan as president. Injustice has been meted out to Dr A Q Khan and we will redress it”, he announced. If president Musharraf says that requirement of two thirds majority of parliament for reinstatement of deposed judges is part of the constitution then it is wrong, Nawaz Sharif held. A key figure in Pakistan’s new government told two top U.S. envoys Tuesday that his country is “no longer a one-man show” and that President Pervez Musharraf’s strong-arm tactics against Islamic militants will be scrutinized. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s comments came as the head of the new civilian government, Yousaf Raza Gilani, spoke by telephone with President Bush and told him that Pakistan would “continue to fight terrorism,” according to a statement from Gilani’s office.
Bush promised to strengthen America’s “friendship” with Pakistan and invited Gilani to visit “at his convenience,” the statement said. Earlier Tuesday, Musharraf swore in Gilani, a loyalist of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, as the new prime minister. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher arrived in Islamabad early Tuesday, held talks with Sharif, then visited Musharraf at the presidential palace. They made no comment on the talks. The envoys also met with army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the chief of the military’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
Sharif, speaking later at a news conference, said he told the envoys that it was “no longer a one-man show in Pakistan” and that the new parliament would decide after exhaustive debate how Pakistan should approach Islamic extremism. The new coalition formed after February’s elections included Sharif’s party. The former prime minister is demanding Musharraf’s resignation. Many Pakistanis resent Musharraf’s support of Washington’s aggressive campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban — which operate in Pakistan’s tribal and border regions — claiming it has stoked a bloody backlash.
The security of Pakistan must not be sacrificed in order to protect other countries, Sharif said. “It is unacceptable that while giving peace to the world we make our own country a killing field,” he said at a news conference. “If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want that our villages and towns should not be bombed,” he said, an apparent reference to recent airstrikes near the Afghan border many Pakistanis blame on U.S. and allied forces. The new civilian rulers have said they would negotiate with some militant groups — an approach that has drawn U.S. criticism in the past.
Gilani, who fronts the incoming civilian-led administration, took the oath from Musharraf at a stiff ceremony in Islamabad. Seated side-by-side on a raised dais and flanked by two honor guards with white and gold-braided uniforms, Gilani followed Musharraf’s lead in reading the oath of office.