ISLAMABAD: Amid spe­cu­­lation that former president Pervez Musharraf may be leaving the country soon, the retired general categorically told party workers on Sunday that he would live and die in Pakistan.

Addressing an All Pakis­tan Muslim League (APML) workers’ convention in the capital, the former military ruler said: “I do not want to escape. If I go abroad to meet my mother I will return to my people,” he said.

The ex-president said he had not done anything wrong during his time in the power, but fabricated cases had been instituted against him.

Gen Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999 when he unseated the government of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and remained in power until 2008.

The former president’s fate is said to be the major bone of contention between the government and the military establishment. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N wants to punish retired general for abrogating the constitution and proclaiming a state of emergency in November 2007. Gen Musharraf is currently in Karachi and has been barred from travelling abroad, despite requests to be allowed to see his ailing mother in Dubai.

The government has already hinted that it was under pressure to allow Musharraf to leave the country and there is speculation that in order to take the heat off itself in the midst of the prevailing political crisis, the government may allow him to proceed abroad.

On Sunday, Gen Mushar­raf also came out strongly against the government, saying that “I strongly condemn the Model Town tragedy and whatever is happening in Lahore now”, and called on the ruling party to resign.

He said that the country had seen no progress since he left office in 2008 and the people had been suffering from various problems such as spiralling inflation, loadshedding and rampant unemployment.

PPP slams govt overreaction

Seperately, Pakistan Peo­ple’s Party (PPP) In­­for­mation Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira condemned the Punjab government for “overreacting” and “creating a siege-like situation throughout Punjab ” by causing untold misery to ordinary people, commuters and daily wage labourers.

“The PPP is shocked at the manner in which Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has overreacted to Dr Tahirul Qadri’s call to pay homage to the martyrs of the Model Town incident,” he said.

“Qadri may be a demagogue deserving no sympathy whatsoever, but it makes no sense to punish ordinary people for what Qadri may be doing,” he said.

The PPP leader said that roads in major provincial cities had been blocked by massive containers, patients had been stranded on the road, not being able to reach hospitals in time; gas stations and shops were shut and public and private transport had come to a standstill.

He recalled that not long ago, former president Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP government in Islamabad had dealt with a week-long march and sit-in by Dr Qadri without the use of force.

The provincial government, he said, should immediately lift the blockade of ordinary people in the province and seek to deal with Dr Qadri in non-violent ways.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2014