PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Friday alleged that the interim Punjab government is following orders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
“Punjab’s interim government is dancing to the tunes of PTI, while the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) continues to be a quiet bystander,” Shebaz said during a news conference in Peshawar.
The PML-N president alleged that the proceedings of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were only being conducted to ‘push PML-N against the wall’ and that many of its electables had been pressurised to join other parties.
However, expressing confidence in his party’s standing with the voters, Shehbaz said PML-N was due to win the upcoming general election if it is held in a free and fair manner. “Nobody attended Imran Khan’s rally in Lahore,” he said. “But despite heavy rainfall in Attock, PML-N’s rally was attended by a huge crowd,” he added.
The PML-N president vowed to make Pakistan similar to Turkey and Malaysia if given a chance by the public in the upcoming polls. “Imran neither established schools or colleges nor forensic labs. A private hospital [Rehman Institute] was established in Peshawar and a picture of it was circulated [by Imran] to take credit. Now, is that not a lie? How will the country absorb this fraud?” Shehbaz said. Lashing out at his political rival, the PML-N president said PTI had destroyed the entire of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Later, at a rally in Mingora, Shehbaz said that Nawaz Sharif had left behind his ailing wife to return to Pakistan. “I am first Pashtun then Punjabi,” the PML-N president claimed. He said that he has promised the people of Karachi and Peshawar that he will develop their cities on a par with Lahore.
The former Punjab CM claimed that his party was all set to win the general elections and that the only way to steer the country out of the crisis was to hold free and fair elections. He, however, warned of consequences in case the polls were tempered.
Concluding his address, the PML-N chief promised to build a model hospital and an educational institution in Malakand Division, making Swat a model tourist spot and developing the district on the lines of development in Lahore.
Published in Daily Times, July 21st 2018.
