As the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has adopted an aggressive narrative — demanding the accountability of former generals and judges ahead of the upcoming general elections — the party’s senior leader Rana Sanaullah on Thursday asked if they should not even take the names of those who pushed the country into crisis.
The former interior minister last week, held ex-army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid responsible for prevailing political and economic crises in the country.
Addressing a PML-N consultative meeting in Gujranwala, Sanaullah said: “Pakistan was heading towards prosperity when it was pushed into crisis for the third time.”
In 2017, the Supreme Court disqualified then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in the Panama Papers case, making it the third time that the PML-N supremo was ousted from office.
In his recent hard-hitting statement, Nawaz held the two former generals responsible for his ouster as the prime minister in 2017 and the prevailing economic crisis being faced by the cash-strapped nation.
“[Former] chief justices Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa were tools [of the former army chief and his spy chief]. Their crime is bigger than a murder offence. Giving them pardons will be an injustice to the nation. They don’t deserve pardon,” the PML-N supremo had said.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) seasoned leader Khursheed Shah, however, advised the PML-N not to engage in such confrontations ahead of the upcoming general elections — scheduled to be held by the last week of January next year.
Addressing the PML-N consultative meeting, Sanaullah reiterated that the former three-time prime minister will return home land on October 21.
Nawaz — who has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons — will address the nation at Minar-e-Pakistan next month, he added.
“The country can come out of crisis by following the path created by Nawaz Sharif,” claimed the former interior minister. He further said that their narrative was one and that is the service of Pakistan. “We will resume the journey from the same point where it was stopped on July 28, 2017.”
Referring to a recent huddle of the party’s top leadership in London, Sanaullah said that PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz assigned a “target” to everyone in the presence of the party’s supremo.
According to media reports, the PML-N supreme leader had set aside a request made by the party’s President Shehbaz Sharif to avoid the aggressive narrative during the meeting in the British capital.
Moving towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the security czar said that characters involved in the May 9 incidents were being brought to justice.
Sanaullah went on to say there was no such law in the world that advocates forgiving a crime to pave the way for a person to contest elections. He added they would not let it happen.
Later, addressing a joint press conference, PML-N leader Mohammed Zubair said that Nawaz would receive an unprecedented welcome upon return to the homeland.
The former Sindh governor further said that the former premier would lead the party’s political campaign. He also added that his party was subjected to political victimisation.
