‘We Will Not be Blackmailed’

Can you work and cooperate closely with President Musharraf given the fact that his regime threw you in jail for five years?
My having been in jail has nothing to do with my position today. The Pakistan People's Party believes in peace and reconciliation. We don't want to fight for nonissues. We are working together with President Musharraf according to the constitution of Pakistan. I'm not bitter at all.

Will the parliament pass legislation that will further curtail the president's powers, such as his power to dismiss the government?
The 1973 constitution of Pakistan is the only document that is acceptable to the people of Pakistan. [The late Prime Minister] Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave us this constitution that until today is keeping the federation intact. We in the PPP are bound to protect the 1973 constitution. These amendments [which gave Musharraf extraordinary powers to dismiss the government] were made afterward. So we don't accept these amendments that were made after [1973] undemocratically. We believe in balance of power between the parliament and the president. And with our coalition partners we are committed to rectify all these things that are unconstitutional. We have a very fragile democracy in Pakistan. So this hanging sword [that the president wields] of dissolving the [national] assembly at any time is not in the interest of the world or of anybody in the country. That would only destabilize democracy in Pakistan.

So the president's power to dismiss the government should be removed?
We need to protect the constitution, and we have the votes [to amend it]. The people voted for our manifesto that was to restore the original 1973 constitution. We don't have to get rid of Musharraf. We have to get rid of his amendments.

Will the judges who were removed by Musharraf in his Nov. 3 state of emergency be restored to the bench? And will Chief Justice [Iftikhar Muhammad] Chaudhry be included?
This has been a very hot debate in the country for many months. For this issue the country has paid a very heavy price. When we were campaigning for the independence of the judiciary my party lost many lives in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. I was jailed because I was protesting against the emergency decree as PPP vice chairman. Recently PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif decided to restore the judges. All the coalition partners have debated and deliberated and decided that a resolution should be moved in parliament. And parliament is supreme. Now let's leave it up to the parliament to do whatever it wants, whether it wants to restore the judges and the chief justice. But the mood of the people of Pakistan is for the restoration of the judges and the chief justice and for the independence of the judiciary.

Will that resolution be moved in parliament this week?
Maybe.

One reason for instability in the past has been the lack of trust between the Pakistani military and the civilian leadership. Are you and Army Chief Kayani working as a team?
My country has had several experiments [with military rule] in the past, and they were failures. There was a lot of interference and the destabilizing of the civilian government by the army. We are left with no other solution but to strengthen democracy in the country, and to make institutions strong. I'm committed to making parliament supreme, to making the judiciary independent, the press free, and to make all institutions strong, including the military. We want to make our defense [forces] strong. I've met Mr. Kayani on several occasions. He has called on me, has briefed me regarding the security situation in the country. He seems to be highly professional, and he wants to support the civil government. There is no doubt that we will have the full cooperation of the army. With magnanimity the army has decided to withdraw voluntarily the army people serving in civilian departments. I see a highly professional, good human being in Mr. Kayani who will extend full support to the civil government.