Army should not be treated as domestic servant: Ch Shujat Hussain

Lahore: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President and former Prime Minister Senator Ch Shujat Hussain has said that we had broken the begging bowl, present rulers have picked up “deg”, the army should not be treated as domestic servants, Shahbaz Sharif should quit politics of vindictiveness, he stopped on-going development projects of Ch Parvez Elahi and removed plaques of his name from completed projects.

Responding to the questions from the media people at his residence here, Ch Shujat Hussain emphatically said that the interests of Pakistani farmers should be taken care in agricultural trade with India. The old and senior Muslim Leaguers were ashamed at treatment meted out to us. Our party was defeated in connivance with the Returning Officers and not through voters.

Asked whether the way of the army can be checked through amendments in the Constitution and the law, Ch Shujat Hussain said that as a matter of truth to check the intervention of the army, the institution of the army should be accepted with good intention, they should not be treated as domestic servant nor they should be humiliated.

Citing an instance in this regard, he said during the tenure of Mr. Junejo, a Minister of State did not allow that a chair should be placed across the table in front of him, whenever a senior army officer came to meet him, he would look downwards as if reading something and would ask for a chair after keeping the army officer standing for couple of minutes.

Ch Shujat Hussain in reply to another question said it was rather strange that Head of the State was being reported as saying if Pervez Musharraf was handed over death sentence and the Prime Minister wrote to him to grant him pardon then he would pardon him and went on pose the question whether to say this even before the verdict of the court, doesn’t it fall in the category of contempt of court?

He said when the army wants to come, it never comes on asking, one jeep and two trucks were required for this, trucks keep standing outside, the General goes inside in jeep, salutes the Prime Minister and says “Sir, we are ready, let’s go” and whole procedure was completed in just 15, 20 minutes.

Replying to other questions, Ch Shujat Hussain said that holding of local bodies’ election was the requirement of the Constitution and not holding the local polls also fell in the category of treason due to breaking of the Constitution. He maintained in fact N-League do not want to hold local bodies’ elections and the Constitution was being trampled with regard to the local bodies’ elections.

In replying to another question, he said that Shahbaz Sharif has not quit politics of vindictiveness; he tries to rough them whether they got anything against our family or not, we have got concrete proofs about victimization of Shahbaz Sharif. Ch Shujat Hussain said that he has also heard that many senior and old Muslim Leaguers were ashamed on quitting our party saying that they have not done something good to leave Pakistan Muslim League.

In response to another query, Ch Shujat Hussain said our party was not defeated by votes but it was defeated with the connivance of the Returning Officers, the army officials had not allowed him and Ch Parvez Elahi to enter the office of the Returning Officer.

In the context of agricultural trade with India, Ch Shujat Hussain said that Pakistan govt should take care of the interest of its own farmers because prices could decrease for the time being by importing potato, tomatoes, ginger but Pakistani farmer was suffering on this account.

Answering another question, the PML President said that the system of Pakistan could not be set right with the induction of one and half billion dollars, we had broken the begging bowl but the present govt has picked up “deg” keep pouring into it. He said one could only smile on the claim about setting up the biggest steel mill in the world in Chiniot. They were not able to run the existing steel mill even. He said in reply to another question that former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had destroyed privatization of the steel mills because of which the steel mill was now at the brink of destruction.

Responding to other questions, Ch Shujat Hussain said that he values a lot whatever Ch Nisar has said about him, he was working hard in negotiations with the Talibans but nothing could be said about ultimate outcome. On a question about Imran Khan, he said that personality of Imran Khan would have become taller had he remained in the opposition, Imran Khan should not have accepted the provincial govt.