Islamabad :
Former Home Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that he is trying to clear up “misunderstandings” between the PTI and the Establishment and has claimed that if the issue of holding early elections is raised by “powerful circles”. If granted, former Prime Minister Imran Khan is ready to sit with current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
According to a report, Sheikh Rashid, who was part of the PTI-led coalition government as the head of the Awami National League-Pakistan, said that the PTI would hold a long march to the federal capital by the end of this month. Will remain in Islamabad till date is announced.
He said that PTI should not have clashed with the state institutions but the party should sit with the Election Commission of Pakistan so that it could persuade the commission to hold early elections.
“I have been working since yesterday to clear up the misunderstandings between the PTI and the establishment,” he told Virus of America correspondent Ali Furqan on Monday.
Sheikh Rashid said that he was in favor of peace with the army but in case of war he would stand by Imran Khan.
He agreed that there was something wrong with the previous government which led to the separation of allies like Balochistan Awami Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Muslim League-Q from PTI. However, he said, “I did not expect this from the MQM.”
He said that Imran Khan was ready to negotiate with the Shahbaz Sharif government for early general elections, but that it needed the guarantee of “powerful circles”.
However, he dismissed the notion that the PTI’s long march was aimed at inviting martial law and said that Imran Khan did not want to join hands with the leaders of Shahbaz Sharif’s coalition government but if the Establishment guarantees elections. It can happen.
It may be recalled that when PTI was in power, Imran Khan had repeatedly said that he would never sit down with ‘corrupt’ leaders like Shahbaz Sharif on ‘any issue’.
Following a successful no-confidence motion against Imran Khan last month, former opposition parties have formed a coalition government with PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif.
Sheikh Rashid said that the army wants to maintain the continuity of democracy and the only way to maintain it is to hold early elections otherwise neither the PTI nor the PML-N-led government will survive.
The Awami Muslim League chief said that Imran Khan was going to gather millions of people in Islamabad and in that case the country would go into a state of uncertainty which could lead to civil war.
PTI chief Imran Khan had announced a march towards Islamabad in the last week of May this year.
Sheikh Rashid said that if Imran Khan succeeds in bringing a large number of people to Islamabad then his politics will rule while his only demand is early elections. He added that PTI does not want to overthrow the government. But the marchers will not return from Islamabad without announcing the date of the general election.
Talking about the overthrow of the PTI government, he said that there were some misunderstandings with the institutions which should not have happened. He said that he was against the conflict with the army and still wanted “reconciliation”.
When asked about the specific reasons for the differences between Imran Khan and the army, the minister declined to comment, saying he had been working since May 1 to clear up the “misunderstanding”.
Sheikh Rashid said that he has nothing to do with the incident of Masjid Nabavi but he is sure that wherever the present rulers go, they will be welcomed in the same way.
