Former Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Nawaz Sharif’s return would activate dromant voters and the party would contest on the ‘vote ko izzat do’ slogan in the upcoming election. He also denied the impression that Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was picked by the establishment.

Speaking to Asma shirazi in Faisla Aap Ka Asif said that ever since the process of picking a caretaker prime minister started, the parties involved were careful not to pick someone who could raise dobuts over transparencey in the elections.

He added that while the Balochistan Awami party had an effect on politics in Balochistan, Kakar would not have enough influcen to affect elections in the entire country.

Asif added that all the names being circulated before the nomination involved people who had a strong affiliation with some major political party, either directly or indirectly.

When asked if the nomination of Kakar came as a surprise, Asif added that most major parties knew about his consideration atleast 48 hours in advance.

He added that Kakar’s nomination would help alleviate sense of deprivation in Balochistan as the province had been suffering for a long time.

Asnwering a question about the his remarks about consensus of Abdul Malik Baloch as caretaker PM, Asif said a meeting under Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had led to the discussion over multiple names including Dr Malik. He also added that a name from KP, a name from Sindh and two from South Punjab had also been finalised.

Asif also dispelled the notion that Kakar was the establishment’s choice. However, he added that the PPP had serious reservations about many names proposed by the other parties.

He added that the name of all three Jillani brothers had been considered for caretaker PM.

On a possible election delay, Asif said a lot would depend on the Election Commission of Pakistan which had a free hand to conduct elections. However, he admitted that uncertainty over the time of elections had been created.

Asif said that even if there was no problem, the people, politicans and media had an over active imaginnation that could think up a crisis.

Nawaz’s return

On Nawaz’s return, Asif said that the decision should be made after the election schedule was announced. He said that the former PM’s arrival would take election campaigning to a high pitch.

He agreed that public opinion was not currently in favour of PMLN but a recovery could start when the election campaign began especially through activation of dormant voters.

On what would be the party’s narrative in the elections, Khawaja said that the party would contest under the ‘vote ko izzat do’ slogan as it was still a beleiever in civilian supremacy.

Similarities between Nawaz and Imran’s case

Asif said that the case of Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif being imprisoned were not similar because the PMLN leader had been implicated in a ‘trumped up’ case. He added that that the judiciary had itself admitted that the his punishment had been wrong.

He said that the establishment wanted to eliminate Nawaz from the political scene to install their own man in 2018.

Asif said that Imran Khan was a ‘criminal’ who had admitted to his crimes including Toshakhana case and foreign funding case. He said that there was no comparison between Imran and Nawaz’s case.

Treatment of PTI women

He said that the women had been imprisoned for participating in the riots of May 9 had rebelled against Pakistan and could not be compared to women like Fatima Jinnah and Benazir Bhutto who had suffered due to politics.

He added that in politics there should be ‘gender equality’ not ‘gender preference’. He said that in the political arena, they should be treated the same as men.

Asif said that women have already been given concessions of not being tried in military court. Referring to the example of Maryam Nawaz and Faryal Talpur, he said PTI should not ask for special treatment.

Imran’s jail facilities

Asif said that PMLN leaders had also suffered in jails but had not told stories about it.

He added that in the small cell where Imran was allegedly being kept, he had been kept with two or sometimes three other inmates.

He said that there should be equity in terms of justice and it should be practiced if it was expected.