PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said he did not need cowards who lacked the courage to stand up for the cause, asking them to leave in the party if they aren’t ready to fight.
Nawaz Sharif said had the right as a citizen of Pakistan to identify the root cause of all the problems faced by Pakistan and his recent speech at the APC was designed for the same purpose.
The PML-N supremo repeated that he saluted the soldiers but not those individuals who didn’t respect the Constitution and went for rigging the general elections. No one will respect Pakistan in the world if the vote wasn’t respected, he warned.
They did everything to meet the needs of the military to make it one of the best in the world, Nawaz said. But he added that it was possible only when the military respected the Constitution.
Addressing a convention of party parliamentarians and ticket-holders at the PML-N secretariat in Model Town, Lahore, via video link from London, Nawaz Sharif said the people of Pakistan would no more be treated like sheep and promised to make the country respectable in the world.
“You had won the elections but the victory was handed over to the person chanting change,” he told the party members, describing the rigging carried out on July 25, 2018, as the biggest crime.
Those who brought Imran into power will have to tell why they had done so, said Nawaz and added that the country’s system could not be run without it. “You will have to answer. We will get the answer.”
Who should be held responsible for the current state of affairs, Imran Khan and those who brought him into power, Nawaz asked the gathering as the charged participants responded by chanting slogans.
As Nawaz questioned the “selectors” over the absence of the accountability of the PTI government, a clip of the recent interview of former FIA DG Bashir Memon was shown to the participating to show what is happening in the country.
In this connection, he also demanded “receipts” from Imran Khan, Aleema Khan and Lt-Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa.
During his speech, the former premier narrated the story of why he had to obtain Iqama for living in Saudi Arabia after he was sent into exile.
Everything had been destroyed and nothing was functional in every sector – from agriculture and industries to government – in Naya Pakistan, Nawaz recalled.
The state of affairs had worsened since 2017, the year he was removed without any justification and reason from his office, the former prime minister noted.
None of the promises made by the PTI, including not seeking the IMF, had been fulfilled, he said and reminded the audience about the unprecedented devaluation the rupee is having and the huge increase in foreign debt.
Talking about the issues like the Orange Line project which hasn’t been launched by the PTI government and the BRT Peshawar costing billions of rupees, Nawaz said no inquiry was being carried out the PTI’s corruption affairs.
They had inducted the military persons in the JIT formed to investigate the Panama Papers case, he remarked. “Cases against me, Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others are all fraud,” he declared.
PML-N Secretary-General in his welcoming remarks said that the country had to be run according to the Constitution to ensure progress.
Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, who is the PML-N chairman, said they would overcome all the hurdles created in their way.
Earlier in the day, PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said Prime Minister Imran Khan is behind the arrest of Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif only to satisfy his ego.
“They used the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the opposition and resorted to treason cases after failing to prove any allegation. What message have they given to India and Kashmiri people by registering treason case against the Azad Kashmir prime minister,” she said.