LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had made a mistake by allowing the speeches of former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif to be aired on national television.
Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, the minister came down hard on the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), saying that they were speaking up now only because they had been unable to get a ‘deal’ over the past year.
Saying that the PML-N had been bargaining for one for nearly the past two years, with senior leaders allegedly involved in the bargaining, Sheikh Rashid warned the PML-N to prepare now that their efforts had failed. “They even tried to use their contacts in brotherly Islamic countries for leverage but failed in their attempts,” he said.
“Make preparations, you will have to be answerable to the courts,” Rashid warned, addressing the PML-N leadership. “Nawaz Sharif will go straight to jail once he returns home. His own house is not in order. I stand by my statement that an “S” group from within the PML-N will break away from the party.”
He went on to say that Nawaz Sharif was trying to fight and malign the armed forces which had fought much greater opponents such as terrorism and sectarianism. “The PML-N is only reacting this way because they are afraid and agitated. They know Imran Khan will win the upcoming Senate elections,” he said.
“This agitation is false. No true member of the ‘Muslim League’ could be against the Pakistan army,” he said. He also alleged that the opposition had been using Jamiat Ulamae Islam Fazal (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazal ur Rehman, for their own purposes. “I would advise the Maulana not to get used by these people again, they are only using him for their own purposes.”
“If the opposition is in a fighting mood, then they should vacate their seats in the National Assembly and let us hold elections for the empty seats.”
