“I don’t think today the army is behind Musharraf”

Q. If returned to power, what will be the priority areas of your government?

A. These priorities are very clearly defined in our manifesto. In it we have talked about national issues, economic issues and the eradication of poverty. But item number one on our agenda is that the judiciary is restored to its November 2, 2007 status. It is the fundamental issue in our country today. Without the restoration of the judiciary to its November 2 status we cannot expect any independence of the judiciary.

Q. How do you propose to provide protection to the judiciary against executive excesses? And how would you tackle the issue of sacked judges and of those who have taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order?

A. What is more important than the question that you have asked is, who is Mr Musharraf to throw the judges out of the Supreme Court and the high courts. He has no powers under the Constitution to do that. This is what needs to be addressed: who is Mr Musharraf to take action against the judges and the judiciary? Nobody in this country, no president, no prime minister – and the army chief comes much after the president and the prime minister – can take action against the judiciary.

Q. Do you intend to reverse the changes made to the Constitution by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf?

A. They all have to be thrown out of the Constitution. They will have to be reversed. If the country is to move forward, there is no way that these amendments can be acceptable to anybody.

Q. The troika arrangement of the 1990s appears set to stage a comeback. Will it have a salutary effect on the stability of the new government?

A. Why should there be a revival of that system? That had been very disastrous for the country. The system that existed under the Eighth Amendment was very harmful for democracy in this country.

Q. What remedies do you have to check the rising tide of militancy in Pakistan?

A. If militancy is rising at all in this country it is because of the policies that Mr Musharraf is pursuing. Why was this militancy not rising when we had democratic governments in Pakistan? Suicide bombing is an absolutely new thing in Pakistan. We were never aware of it before. We first need to define terrorism. The representatives of the country need to sit down and seriously discuss this matter in the parliament. And only a parliament that is independent and sovereign can discuss this matter. A parliament under a dictator can never do that.

Q. The 1973 Constitution, it appears, has failed to provide safeguards against army intervention. What amendments in your opinion can be made to effectively forestall such adventurism?

A. I don’t think any amendment is needed to the 1973 Constitution. The only thing that needs to be done is to implement and abide by that Constitution in letter and spirit. Nothing else is needed. Once it is abided by and allowed to function without any hindrance from external forces, the country will come back on track.

Q. Provincial autonomy, as promised in the 1973 Constitution, has not been forthcoming. How do you see the issue, which is considered the root cause of trouble in Balochistan and unrest in other smaller provinces?

A. I am for the provincial autonomy under the 1973 Constitution. You can’t expect a dictator to deal with such issues. Mr Musharraf came [to power] with this slogan of inter-provincial harmony. Where is that inter-provincial harmony? In fact if there was harmony before Mr Musharraf, that has also dissipated and disappeared.

Q. Are you satisfied with the state of the economy? What are your plans to handle rising inflation?

A. The state of the economy is such that we are under a greater debt than we were in 1999. Musharraf said ‘we are breaking the begging bowl’. This was much talked about and trumpeted by Mr Musharraf. It was part of his seven-point agenda that we will break this begging bowl. Instead, he has increased the size of the begging bowl. The government has obtained four billion dollars in foreign loans (since 1999). The domestic debt has also increased by 1,200 billion rupees. The government says that the treasury is full of money. I don’t know who is fooling whom. If the treasury is full, why don’t people get even the basic amenities of life? They can’t even buy flour. They are facing a choice between either sending their children to school or feeding them. They don’t have money for both. The country needs to produce more, to encourage saving, increase its production – both agricultural and industrial – provide incentives to both agriculturists and investors and encourage foreign investment. This was our hallmark when I was prime minister. We were the only government that had decided to denationalise and privatise industry, banks and insurance companies. These processes started during our time in government. We were the only government which actually believed in the free market economy. We started very popular economic reforms which were popular not just in this country but also abroad. India also followed suit soon.

Q. Are you in favour of privatising state-owned enterprises? Do you intend to pursue or halt this programme?

A. It is a misconception to say that privatisation and denationalisation have increased poverty. It is an incorrect analysis. The richest countries in the world today have followed this policy. The countries that have not done that are lagging behind. You have to open up your economy. You have to encourage investment. You have to provide incentives to investors, both foreign and local. It’s not the government’s function to run banks, insurance companies, steel mills, fertiliser factories, flour mills and even things like poultry farms. Today the military establishment is running all this. This is absolutely unfair to a country which has 160 million people. Many of these people are starving but the few are thriving.

Q. How do you propose to check growing intervention by the US and other Western powers in the internal affairs of Pakistan?

A. Dictators are responsible for the increased intervention of the West. They are compromising this country’s self-respect because it is in their personal interest. They want to perpetuate their rule, rather misrule, by pleasing their foreign masters. This is not the requirement of any elected prime minister. Dictators, unlike prime ministers, are not elected by the people. So they don’t have their roots in the people. They draw strength from their foreign masters and the army. I don’t think that today the Pakistani army is behind Mr Musharraf.

Q. How much value do you attach to freedom of expression? Will you persist with curbs imposed on electronic media by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf or undo them?

A. We are supporters of the freedom of the press and we don’t approve of all these restrictions which have been placed on the press today. While we are in the middle of an election, Mr Musharraf has been bringing in new laws to restrict the press. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority is telling television channels to do this and not do that. These things are being done two weeks before the elections. This is very unfair and is also tantamount to rigging the elections. As part of pre-poll rigging the King’s party is being given all that is required to get their message out. According to my information, discretionary grants allowed to the chief ministers for very specific purposes of carrying out official activities are being used for publicity and media management. This is how the Q-League is operating today. This is how all the parties that are supporting Mr Musharraf, irrespective of which province they belong to, are using these funds illegally.