Staff Reporter
London/ Lahore
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Thursday demanded “Imran’s selectors” to answer for the ongoing crises in the country, saying that his supporters “will not sit back” until they get some.
Nawaz, who is currently in London, made the remarks in a virtual address at a convention of PML-N’s parliamentarians and ticket-holders, saying that the country was facing “defining moments”.
The former prime minister, while commenting on the state of the economy and the challenges being faced by the masses, asked: “Who should I hold responsible for this? Just Imran Khan or those who are really responsible?”
“Imran’s selectors, you will have to answer for this. You cannot go home without answering,” Nawaz declared. “Without Pakistan’s parliament, its institutions cannot operate. Even the judiciary cannot work. We will make you answer, we will not sit back until we get one.”
He said that people in Pakistan were “crying” because of rising inflation and prices of power and gas.
“Have you thought about how they (people) are living? Was this the situation two years ago?”
The former premier regretted that so far no one has tried to “diagnose the root cause” of the country’s problems and political instability and said that he had decided to “identify” it at the multiparty conference of the opposition parties held on September 24 without any “ambiguity”.
In the PPP-hosted multiparty conference held last month, Nawaz had said that the opposition’s struggle was not against Prime Minister Imran Khan but those who brought him into power through the 2018 elections.
In today’s address, Nawaz also took a hit at the military personnel “who have digressed” from the Constitution, saying that the army can only become the “world’s best” if it sticks to its constitutional role.
“I know an overwhelming majority [in the army] sticks to constitutional boundaries, but there are few who have digressed. Those names are few, they can literally be counted on fingertips [but] they have defamed the entire army and that is not acceptable to me,” the PML-N supremo said. “I respect my soldiers and generals, but I cannot respect those who do not respect the Constitution, who rig elections.”
He also directed his party’s parliamentarians to take a stand, saying that they were not “rented members”.
“You (PML-N leaders) had won the election, but he was given victory. The tabdeeli person,” Nawaz said, referring to PM Imran and added that those who “rigged” the 2018 general elections, had “violated the Constitution and committed a crime”.
Meanwhile, PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz addressing a convention of PMLN’s parliamentarians and ticket holders in Lahore, on Thursday directed party leaders to gear up for the anti-government campaign.
The PDM will hold its first public rally in Gujranwala on October 16, followed by Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Multan, and Lahore on Oct 18, 25, November 22, 30, and December 13.
“We are about to enter a decisive struggle,” Maryam said while addressing a convention of PML-N’s parliamentarians and ticket holders alongside Khawaja Asif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Maryam said “vote ko izzat do (honour the vote)” has always been Nawaz Sharif’s narrative and that he was fighting for the nation’s rights. “The parliamentarians present here are witness to the fact that the sanctity of the vote that has been violated.”
“The rigging of the [2018 general elections] had begun three months prior […] the vote was not respected, and the requirement for bringing people into power was only that they obey orders,” she said.
Maryam said that when such people come into power, then inflation surges, the law and order situation worsens, and the rights of the people are violated.
“When [Nawaz] fights for the people’s rights and demands that the rule of law reign supreme he is nominated in treason cases,” she said, adding: “What kind of traitor does six nuclear tests in response to five nuclear tests?”
Maryam said that Nawaz had “strengthened” Pakistan’s defence systems and that he had made motorways on which fighter jets could land and take off. The PML-N vice-president said that despite the economic crisis in Pakistan, he initiated operations to curtail terrorism in the country.
“When Nawaz came into power, loadshedding would take place for 20 hours in the country. We [almost] finished it in our tenure,” she said.
