LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Mian Javed Latif claimed on Thursday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will come back to the country from London this year and will become the country's chief executive for the fourth time.
The PML-N senior leader made this assertion while talking to reporters outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore Headquarters where he appeared in possessing assets beyond means case against him and his family members.
According to Javed, there were two reasons Nawaz could return to Pakistan. "Nawaz Sharif cannot stay abroad after seeing Pakistanis stuck in this crisis. He is coming here (Pakistan) to lead the nation himself. Even if his medical treatment is not complete, he is definitely coming to make up for the treatment being meted out to the nation," he claimed.
He added that there was another "solution" in which those who "disqualified him, ended his government and caused the crisis that Pakistan is stuck in for the last three years" would "plead" with the former prime minister to return since he was the "only one" who could take the country out of the crisis.
When a reporter asked why Nawaz was brought back in 2013 and why he was "allowed" to be elected even if people had already voted for him, the PML-N leader alleged that conditions are moving towards a situation where those who let him leave are not regretting it but are helpless. "If there is a well-wisher of Pakistan, he can see that the country's problems will not go away without Nawaz Sharif."
To another query, Latif claimed that the PML-N would have no objection if PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari comes to power through public vote. "The perception is being given that PPP is being brought forward like Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Chaudhry Nisar said, and if this happens our stance is these people are not elected but selected," he said.
According to him, if someone is selected, the PML-N would oppose any such move because Pakistan's problems cannot be addressed through this mechanism. "Whether it is the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), PML-N or PPP or if people are satisfied with the performance of PTI in three years and elect them, we will not have any objection even to that. But we will not let a government be formed by pressing a button on a machine. People will not accept or tolerate it," he added.
About his appearance at the NAB office, Javed Latif said he knew that NAB would serve him a notice because of his recent speeches in the National Assembly as well as his remarks on the "restrictions being imposed" through the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) bill.
During his appearance at the NAB headquarters, a source SAID that the bureau has decided to file a reference against Javed in an accountability court after he failed to give "satisfactory" answers to the combined investigation team (CIT) regarding his and his family's assets.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021