Nawaz criticises Imran for ‘following orders from the top’

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday that a defining moment in the history of Pakistan was around the corner, and stressed that the nation must rise and take a different course of action to save Pakistan from the clutches of hypocrites and elements trying to halt the country’s progress.

Lashing out at Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for following “orders from the top”, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader advised Mr Khan to quit politics. “Mr Khan, you should quit politics for being a hypocrite. You talk about change and creating a new Pakistan but take orders from the top. You called Asif Zardari a disease but then voted for his party in the Senate elections,” he said.

The ousted prime minister also chided Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for his explanation that “orders from top” meant orders from Banigala (Mr Khan’s residence). He termed the developments during the Senate elections mind-blowing, and said that it could only happen in Pakistan. The government in Balochistan was disbanded, votes were purchased and then the PTI voted for PPP candidates. “Still, the PTI is sloganeering for change,” he scoffed.

In a series of meetings with party leaders and workers, Mr Sharif met party MNAs, MPAs and office-bearers from Gujranwala and Faisalabad divisions on Saturday.

Joined by PML-N president and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the former premier asked his party workers to prepare for the upcoming general elections and stand firm against “those trying to block Pakistan’s progress”.

Several conspiracies have been hatched against the country over the past nine months, he said, adding that efforts were under way to take Pakistan away from the path of progress. Following the Supreme Court’s July 28 decision, he said, Pakistan had lost stability, faced anarchy and lost precious time that could have been spent on progress. Pakistan’s stock market value dropped from 53,000 points to 37,000 points, while the Pakistani rupee was devalued against the US dollar.

Pakistan could not solve its problems if its growth rate did not rise above 7pc, Mr Sharif said, adding that his government had raised the country’s growth rate to 5.8pc from 3.9pc, which had been the case when the PML-N had come to power. He regretted that the IMF had predicted that Pakistan’s growth rate could, again, drop to 4.9pc next year.

Calling for a push to ask why Pakistan was lagging behind in the region, Mr Sharif said the nation must combat the disgrace it was facing. He announced that every PML-N worker would take the slogan of “Vote ko izzat dau” (Give respect to vote) to every nook and corner of the country.

Responding to Mr Sharif’s tirade against the PTI chairperson, the party’s information secretary Fawad Chaudhry said that Mr Sharif had always done politics at the behest of the establishment. Nawaz Sharif was invented and raised by the establishment, he said, adding that the PML-N supreme leader’s “remote control” had always remained in others’ hands.

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Chaudhry said the ousted prime minister was targeting Mr Khan to vent out his own frustration. Mr Sharif wanted people to stop asking him about the billions of rupees he had made and sent outside of the country illegally, he said.

The PTI information secretary also berated Mr Sharif for not realising that political parties were capable of having their own independent struggles. He added that the PTI chairman had had a political struggle spanning 22 years.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2018

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