Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has accused the ruling party leaders of leaving him in a lurch whenever he is faced with a crisis and warned that without him the country would be in "deep crisis" with Talibanisation creeping in cities.
Insiders attending a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and allied parties here said Gen Musharraf blasted leaders for their attitude and for the first time appeared visibly shaken.
"I feel disturbed for the first time," Musharraf was quoted by participants at the meeting as saying.
When he was questioned by some on his plans for retaining dual posts of Army Chief and President, he expressed his frustration and narrated incidents in which the PML-Q leaders failed to stand by him during difficulties faced by him since 9/11.
He said Pakistan without him (Musharraf) would be in deep crisis. "You do not know the problems for Pakistan if I am left out. You would see its (Talibanisation) in Lahore and Karachi as well. And that if the present state of affairs is continued, it would be a big disaster.
"I am not worried about myself. I am fighting your war," he told the allies.
Expressing his disappointment with ruling party leaders, he said, "I bluntly say that you always leave me alone in the time of trial and tribulation. Whether it was a change in the Afghan policy, Dr AQ Khan and Bugti issues, the judicial crisis or the May 12 incident, you never came to my support.”
Musharraf said out of 1,000 provincial ministers, parliamentary secretaries and standing committee chairmen, he could not see even 10 of them speaking in his defence. "I see the party nowhere. You people are not mobilised.”
He said his allies' habit of remaining busy in gossiping was a recipe for disaster. "You are not delivering. You have lost the war of nerves. You all are silent upon what the media is doing. If I have to do everything, then what is your purpose?" he asked the treasury MPs.
Defending the amended media ordinance, the president said he had given teeth to the toothless Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and that it was aimed at retaliating at the media that kept pushing him to the wall with more and more freedom given to it. "It (amended ordinance) has given teeth to PEMRA and would now bring supremacy of the law," he said.
Musharraf lost his temper when a lady lawmaker, Mehnaz Rafi, questioned the wisdom of the promulgation of the amended Pemra Ordinance shortly before the National Assembly session.
Senator Javed Shah's comments that Musharraf did not come through the power of ballot, also did not go well with the president.
On the affidavit filed by suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry accusing him of preventing him from leaving his office after he declined to quit, Musharraf said it has now provided him a chance to tell the public the real story and the actual causes behind showing the door to the top judge.
Musharraf said he would address the nation over TV and radio on Thursday night.
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