President Zardari was ticket holder of NAP: Irfanullah Marwat

Irfanullah Khan Marwat, the son-in law of former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, is a Pakistani politician. He has held numerous portfolios in the Sindh government since 1989 including transport,health, home, education and mines and mineral development. He has recently joined

the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.

Here are excerpts from the interview, which The News Tribe’s Maqsood Hussain recently conducted.

TNT: Irfanullah Khan Marwat tell us how did you enter into politics and what challanges you faced in this journey?

Irfanullah Marwat: It is a long story. Karachi was burning in 1986 as Punjabis and Pakhtuns were being targeted and their tortured bodies, especially of youths, were found in different areas of the city. They lived in huge number in Qasba Colony, Sohrab Goth and Shah Faisal Colony. The houses of Punjabis and Pakhtuns were forcibly occupied.

Situation was so grave that youths from these two communities were intercepted while passing through localities like Lines Area and were brutally tortured to death. I had picked up several bodies myself. Nobody was ready to speak against this viciousness. In this situation, I and Malik Sarwar Awan (late) stood up. We visited the areas dominated by Punjabi, Pakhtun and Hazarawal communities and consoled them. In this way we united them on the platform of Punjabi Pakhtun Ittehad (PPI) against this violence.

At that time there was no culture of keeping weapons. Then there were elections after the plane crash of Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. I contested and won the election from the PPI platform.

TNT: What would be your position if you were not the son-in-law of former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan?

Irfanullah Marwat: I had been asked that I was a minister because my father-in-law Ghulam Ishaq Khan was in the Presidency. I also won the 2002 election and became Sindh education minister and Ishaq Khan was not the president at that time. So there is no truth in this allegation that the former president had any role in my political career. He had no interest in politics as he was a career bureaucrat. Had he been interested in politics, he would have promoted his son in this field. It was the situation at that time which helped me. I took a bold stance for the protection of the Punjabis and Pakhtuns and people supported me in return.

TNT: What was your mission when you joined politics?

Irfanullah Marwat: I entered into politics accidentally. I was a businessman running my textile mill in Nooriabad area and had won the ‘Businessman of the Year Award’ for highest exports of cotton. But when the incidents of target killing of Punjabis and Pakhtuns became a matter of routine and made their lives difficult, I stood up and entered into the political arena. We, as a party, stood for this cause, but today most of the people have quit it but I am still there to continue the struggle.

TNT: Do you think that you can serve people without having a portfolio as you had enjoyed minstership almost throughout your political carreer?

Irfanullah Marwat: I sat on the opposition benches when I elected in 1988 for first time. There were only four people in the opposition at that time. They included Khalifa, son of Pir Sahab Pagara. We were all non-MQM and non-PPP. So I have seen that time too. But, yes I had been part of various governments whenever I was elected. Perhaps they needed me that’s why I joined them in the past.

TNT: Whenever you are not a part of assembly you join PPI but when you get elected to the house you disappear from the party?

Irfanullah Marwat: No. it never happened. I joined PPI and remained with it until the then PPP government was dissolved in 1990. I did not contest 1990 election bacause I had resigned from the PPI. During the Musharraf-era, the party was not functional as its registration as a political party was not renewed.

TNT: Why it remained dysfunctional for such a long period. Was that happened because you had been a part of various governments?

Irfanullah Marwat: I do not agree with you. I remained in government till 1990 and by that time I was also a part of the PPI. Due to differences with Ghulam Sarwar Awan I resigned from the party in 1990 and did not contest the election. Later, in 1991 I contested the by-election as an independent candidate and won on PS-114. And again in 1996, I did not contest the election due to death of my father.

Then I shifted to Islamabad after the death of my father and stayed there for over five years before moving back to Karachi in 2002. Then I joined Sindh Democratic Alliance (SDA), which later became a part of the National Alliance (NA), a joint venture of the SDA, the NPP and Farooq Leghari’s Millat Party.

TNT: And that NA finally merged into PML-Q?

Irfanullah Marwat: Yes…but Mr Maqsood! I would ask here one question. Is changing a party a bad thing for all except those who are joinging Imran Khan’s Tekhreek-e-Insaf? Everyone has changed parties in Pakistan including President Asif Ali Zardari and his late father Hakim Ali Zardari. They were ticket holders of National Awami Party now called the ANP. Today, Zardari is co-chairman of the PPP and also the president of the country. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was railways minister during former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq’s government.

See politics in Pakistan is not yet mature. Is there any guarantee that those who are joining PTI today will remain there forever.

TNT: You talk about democracy but directly or indirectly you had supported Musharraf’s Nov 3 emergency and sacking of CJ. Do you feel any regret today?

Irfanullah Marwat: No, I don’t feel any regret. One makes decisions after pondering. I always oppose boycotting of election as a party, group or whatever. In the past, PPP had once boycotted local bodies election. However, former minister Benazir Bhutto later said that it was the biggest mistake of her political career. Similarly, MQM did the same thing in 2001-2 local government elections. Later, they also regretted.

TNT: But there are moral grounds?

Irfanullah Marwat: I am telling you that were Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others not the members of the same assembly during Musharraf-era? Their leader Imran Khan admitted that he supported Musharraf in 2002 referendum.

TNT: Okay fine, but Khan had apologised to the nation for this mistake on TV ? I am just trying to ask one thing do you have any regret that you had been a part of dictator?

Irfanullah Marwat: I had been a part of system, which I will not call a dictatorship at that point of time, because I was not a part of that system for the first three years which was a dictatorship. The second part, which was the elected part was a very low-consultative process. There were two things….one thing basically brought Musharraf down and I hope he regrets whatever he did to the Chief Justice. If he had not done this probably he still be sitting around because the economy was in much better shape. If you remember, President Zardari during his address at Garhi Khuda Bukhsh said that he wished if judiciary were under his control, now what is the difference between a democratic president and a military ruler.

TNT: You were a part of the government which on Sept 7, 2007 arrested Nawaz Sharif upon arrival at airport and later deported him. And now you have joined PML-N. Why is that U-turn?

Irfanullah Marwat: No….it is not my U-turn. The thing is that it was a personal dispute. It was Musharraf VS Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. But Musharraf had lost his moral ground by allowing the former to the country under a US-brokered deal and blocking the latter. That matter had become personal.

TNT: Do you ever feel that whatever happened to Nawaz Sharif was wrong?

Irfanullah Marwat: Everyone said it was wrong. Both should had been treated equaly. See, one cannot be in power forever, even if you are an army chief. If you keep making wrong decisions and compromising then slowly your power will erode.And that is what happened to the then sitting army chief.

TNT: So you never supported deportation of Nawaz Sharif by Musharraf?

Irfanullah Marwat: No body supported this. Everyone would say that it was wrong.

TNT: But, at the same time you don’t have any regret as you never opposed this action openly?

Irfanullah Marwat: I had nothing to do with Nawaz Sharif at that time. I was not in his party.

TNT: Why a big anti-Marwat group has appeared in your constituency today? They allege you have disappointed them.

Irfanullah Marwat: It is better to ask them this question. None of my main supporters have joined them. Everyone is free to make his own decision and that is the beauty of democracy.

TNT: You have worked smoothly with MQM during the Musharraf government. Today what led to severe differences with the party?

Irfanullah Marwat: I have worked with MQM before Musharraf too. You don’t make emphasis on just Musharraf-era. In the past, I had worked with them as provincial home minister during the second Nawaz government. MQM claims that the whole Karachi is their, only Urdu speaking people reside in the metropolis and only they are their genuine representatives. I would call this a propaganda.

We just say that other communities like Punjabi, Pukhtun and Hazarawal also reside in the city in a considerble number so there should be a fair housing and population census so that actual presence of all people from different ethnicities could be assessed. I guess the number of people from these communities is more than that of Urdu speaking. The MQM does not want to hear this harsh reality therefore they always oppose fair census in Karachi. My demand is that there should be 99.9 percent honest voters list and and free environment where a voter is able to exercise his right of franchise without any fear at a polling station. This is my only difference with the MQM.

The interviewer is a freelance documentary producer and a journalist working for a leading Pakistan-based English language newspaper.