— The incumbent rulers would never let the institutions strengthen. — “I have never favored anyone during the three and a half years of my government”. — “Neither I want judges nor army chief of my choice but want to bring people to office on merit, who are in favor of strengthening the institutions”. — Rulers appoint NAB and FIA heads to save them instead of eliminating corruption, while four witnesses of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz have already died. — Culprits have been imposed in the country who plundered country’s wealth. — Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja “is like their family member and a biased man”. — PTI was the only party that practiced “legal political fundraising”…funding raised by other political parties “bogus”. — If I had stacked money abroad, I would not have (had) the courage to say “absolutely not”. — “When I was the prime minister, I did not enjoy absolute power because the actual center of power in the country lay elsewhere, and everyone knows where that is”. — Rule of law makes a difference. (Sourced fromPak Observer)
— The ongoing “alarming” situation in Swat was a matter for the federal government, and the PTI-led provincial government had been alerting the federal government for a long time. — Has “more stamina than the Sharifs.” — Only one political party had legal funding and that was “Tehreek-e-Insaaf.” Funding for other political parties was fraudulent. The high court had ordered that all fundraising cases should be heard together. “It is a pity that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is not bringing forward the funding of other political parties.” The CEC was “biased” and a man of the federal government. “If the Election Commissioner brings up the funding of other political parties, it will be apparent as to whose funding is legal”. I’m “ready” to go to prison. — Surveillance of premiers took place all over the world, but “targeted recording” did not. Intelligence agencies had surveillance, but it was their job to protect them and not to tap the phone and release recordings. “Telephones are taped but the recording being released is a national security issue”. (Sourced fromExpress Tribune)
— While running the country was supposed to be my responsibility during my time as the prime minister, the actual rule was of “someone else”. “Even half the power would have been given” to me in my three and a half years in power, my government would have competed with the performance of Sher Shah Suri — the famed founder of the Sur Empire (who built the GT Road from Chittagong to Kabul). — “Our hands were tied. We were blackmailed from everywhere. Power wasn’t with us. Everyone knows where the power lies in Pakistan, so we had to rely on them”. “We relied on them all the time. They did a lot of good things too but they didn’t do many things that should’ve been done. They have the power because they control institutions such as NAB (National Accountability Bureau), which wasn’t in our control.” — My government had been “weak” when it came to power and had to seek coalition partners. If the same situation were to arise again, “I would opt for reelections and seek a majority government or none at all”. — “No management works if I have responsibility but have no complete power and authority. A system works only when responsibility and authority are in one place.” — It was imperative for the country to have a “strong army” due to the threat posed by the enemies but there was also the need to strike a “balance” between having a strong army and a strong government. Sourced from Dawn.
FEATURED VIDEO
Art of balance
Honorary contributors to DesPardes: Adil Khan, Ajaz Ahmed, Anwar Abbas, Arif Mirza, Aziz Ahmed, Bawar Tawfik, Dr. Razzak Ladha, Dr. Syed M. Ali, G. R. Baloch, Haseeb Warsi, Hasham Saddique, Jamil Usman, Jawed Ahmed, Ishaq Saqi, Khalid Sharif, Majid Ahmed, Masroor Ali, Md. Ahmed, Md. Najibullah, Mushtaq Siddiqui,, Mustafa Jivanjee, Nusrat Jamshed, Shahbaz Ali, Shahid Hamza, Shahid Nayeem, Shareer Alam, Syed Ali Ammaar Jafrey, Syed Hamza Gilani, Shaheer Alam, Syed Hasan Javed, Syed M. Ali, Tahir Sohail, Tariq Chaudhry, Usman Nazir
