Slamming the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan after his 10-year sentence in cipher case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif said that he had neither compromised the national security nor revealed any state secret to save his rulership.
The three-time ex-premier, in his address to an election rally in the Haroonabad town of Punjab Bahawalnagar district on Tuesday, came down hard on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and blamed him for hatching a “conspiracy” that compromised the national security.
In a major development today, the cricketer-turned-politician and the former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were sentenced to 10 years, each, in the cipher case, pertains to allegations of making contents of a secret cable sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad public.
He praised the Haroonabad people for gathering in large numbers to welcome him and said that his election rally broke attendance records of all previous rallies in the city.
“Despite being subjugated, I had never revealed any state secret nor compromised the national security,” Nawaz said while pointing fingers at Khan, adding that he “attacked” the country’s integrity to save his rule.
“I am still standing before the nation despite facing cruel oppression. I had been ousted from the premiership for not receiving salary from my son. I was removed from the premiership thrice which also resulted in losses to the country.”
The PML-N supremo took credit for controlling inflation, fuel rates, loadshedding, the US dollar fluctuations and relief to farmers and common people during his previous tenures.
“We had also gotten rid of the IMF. We were expanding the motorway network, working on the CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor]. On the other hand, the former PTI government kept begging before foreign countries.” Nawaz claimed.
He also mentioned the latest ranking of the global corruption index, saying: “Transparency International declared the PTI founder’s era most corrupt. Corruption was decreased during our tenure but the country’s corruption index had risen during the PTI government.”
