Long-term interim govt needed to put house in order: Musharraf

ISLAMABAD (INP): All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief, General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has said that to tackle the challenges faced by the country, an interim government, authorized by the Supreme Court (SC) to carry out constitutional amendments, was need of the hour.

Talking to a private TV channel on Saturday, Pervez Musharraf proposed technocrat interim government should be provided with a considerable time to hold the corrupt politicians accountable.

Speaking about the Speaker NA Ayaz Sadiq’s statement in which he feared the incumbent was not going to complete its tenure, the APML chief said that he was also in favour to oust PML-N government.

He ruled out the perceptions regarding greater plan and accused the politician talking in this connection of nepotism.

Pervez Musharraf said, “In Pakistan, the state and the Constitution often come at odds with each other. We need to save the country and make democratic amendments to ensure that corrupt elements do not come again at the helm of affairs.”

He disagreed that politicians can’t be ousted until and unless masses reject them. This narrative will lead to a clash between the judiciary and the executive, he added.

He, however, praised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, saying: “Among an available lot of politicians, only Imran Khan has the charisma to attract masses.”

Talking about the role of the judiciary, he said no one was talking about a martial law to bring a positive change in the country, however, masses were looking forward to the SC for some relief. “The SC will have to find a way [to replace the incumbent government with an interim one],” he remarked.

Musharraf suggested that the judiciary should take a start with striking down the legislation that allows a convicted person to head a political party. “They should declare it illegal and unconstitutional,” he added.

“The prevailing rules and laws do not allow a change to take place,” he said. Talking about his vision and future plans, Musharraf said: “We should create more provinces, it is essential to smoothly run the business of the state.”

The former president said he wanted to form a multi-ethnic party and spread “Pakistanism”. To a question, he said all ethnic entities live in Karachi so it will be good to start a multi-ethnic movement from there.

“I have to approach masses. I don’t want to head scattered groups of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), neither they want me to chair them,” Musharraf said while negating the impression that he would head a party, comprising various groups of MQM. “There is a vacuum in Karachi. To me, the MQM is a failure and my approach is not to reinforce failures,” he said.

I want to make a new entity and ask the former voters of the MQM to come under its ambit to form a government in their province, Musharraf said, adding that he, however, will not lead them as he considers himself a “national level leader” and that he will “not play on a provincial level”.

When asked what if the SC declares him disqualified, he said, in that case, he will sit calmly and say “Pakistan ka Allah hi hafiz” [Pakistan, may Allah Almighty save you].