Memogate fiasco should end after Gen Jones’ statement

DAILY TIMES

A day after his late-night meeting with the army chief, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dispelled the impression of any confrontation between the government and the military by categorically stating that the army and the judiciary were the supporter of democracy and that no one had any intention of derailing the democratic process in the country.

Denying any issues between the civilian government and the military leadership over the memo scandal, Gilani felt if any such impression was created by some circles, it had been removed by his meeting with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Gilani also urged that the memogate fiasco should come to an end following the statement of former US national security adviser Gen James Jones.

The prime minister, who was talking to a selective group of journalists from the print media, looked composed and talked extensively on issues making headlines, ranging from memo the issue and relations with US to the political situation and future elections in the country.

Gilani called the memo case a non-issue and emphasised that Pakistan and its interest were supreme and made it clear that the government had never directed anyone to write such a memo.

He said that whatever the army chief and the ISI director general submitted in the apex court over this issue was in the ambit of the system and that their statements were routed through the appropriate government forums.

Gilani said that the army was the institution of the country and that he defended it more than them when the Abbottabad incident occurred and questioned what some people and the media wanted to derive from a piece of paper which contained nothing.

He said that the matter was now sub judice and recommended that the inquiry be allowed to take its course, adding that the government would act on whatever came from it. Gilani disclosed that the army chief also talked with President Asif Ali Zardari when he met him and that he received a phone call from the president during the meeting. About the president’s return to the country, he said that the president would be in the country on December 27 if the doctors allowed him to travel. The prime minister said that Pakistan a wanted relationship with the US in “black and white” with nothing hidden in the bilateral ties, declaring that a new understanding with the US would be empowered through the mandate to be given by parliament and the people of the country.

He said that in his meeting with US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, he had put forward three suggestions to the US envoy to build bilateral ties on a durable and solid foundation.

Elaborating on the meeting with Munter, Gilani said that he had asked the US to give him the political space as the people of Pakistan wanted from their prime minister not to compromise on the national sovereignty and that he sought a guarantee that no incident like the Abbottabad operation would take place in future. On the military side, the US envoy was asked to sit with the Pakistani military to evolve a mechanism that would help avoid collateral damage by relying on information from Pakistan, particularly on drone strikes.