MUHAMMAD SALEEM

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has claimed that the 2008 general election was a fixed affair. According to him, he was told by the Americans that Pervez Musharraf and his key aide Tariq Aziz let to PML(Q) down in the said elections.

Shujaat’s book titled ‘Sach To Ye Hai’ was launched at a hotel here on Tuesday. The 328-page book comprising 20 chapters unfolds Shujaat’s brief stint as prime minister of Pakistan and his interactions with political leaders.

Shujaat said Nawaz Sharif reneged on his promise of making Pervez Elahi chief minister of Punjab. He also disclosed that an army Colonel once wanted to beat up Sheikh Rashid but his intervention saved the Rawalpindi politician from that humiliation.

Shujaat alleged that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif asked him to frame Asif Ali Zardari in a “fake narcotics case.” He stated that he refused to file a case against Zardari. He wrote, “Zardari in 2011 told me that he became president because of me.”

Shujaat also wrote: “Before Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister for the second time in 1997, he visited me and promised to name Pervez Elahi as the chief minister of Punjab.” However, when Nawaz came to power he appointed his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif against this post.

The PML-Q leader alleged that the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz complained about the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry. “When Iftikhar Chaudhry was reinstated, I advised Musharraf to settle differences with him and he was also ready to do so. Unfortunately, however, their aides did not allow reconciliation to happen,” he added.

Chaudhry Shujaat further wrote that Pervez Musharraf used to say that former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was “extremely lazy”. “He [Musharraf] used to complain that PM saab [Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali] wakes up at noon and he had some reservations about him, so I advised Jamali to resign,” he wrote in his book.

Speaking on the occasion, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo criticised Nawaz Sharif for challenging Sadiq Sanjrani’s election as Senate chairman.

“I think Nawaz Sharif has himself drawn this line according to which if someone votes for Nawaz or [PkMAP chief] Mehmood Khan Achakzai, the vote is honoured. If it goes to somebody else, it is dishonoured,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid claimed that Nawaz Sharif tried to get a ‘National Reconciliation Order (NRO)’ on March 23 but failed.

Referring to the NRO introduced by Pervez Musharraf, he said it was aimed at bringing the Pakistan People’s Party leaders back to the country.