LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has called for accountability of all those who have ruined and damaged the country.

While addressing the party’s central working committee (CWC) meeting here at Model Town on Saturday, Nawaz said that those who were involved in hatching conspiracies against him were being exposed.

The PML-N CWC members from all the four provinces and AJK attended the meeting who reposed their full confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.

Nawaz admired the party leaders who faced fake cases and still remained loyal with the party. “It is very good that the leadership of every province is present here. We have gathered after a long time,” he said, adding: “Everyone had faced problems of their own from exile to fraudulent legal proceedings and finally false cases were exposed.”

The PML-N leader said, “Three people sit down and disqualify a prime minister representing 250 million people for life.”

He said judges could not remove prime ministers or presidents in any other country of the world but here he was removed on a matter of not taking salary from his son. “Who will answer for this,” he asked, adding: “I have the right to ask this question.”

Referring to the resignations of former Supreme Court judges Ijazul Ahsan and Mazahar Naqvi, Nawaz said both should be questioned why they resigned before their tenures and that legal proceedings should be conducted against them. “We call for accountability of those who destroyed and ruined Pakistan,” he said, adding: “We faced NAB; Mazahar Naqvi should also be questioned from which resources he bought properties.”

He further said, “I have an audio of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar wherein he said Nawaz Sharif had to be removed and Imran Khan has to be brought in.” He also mentioned about disclosures made by Justice Shaukat Siddiqui.

The PML-N supremo also highlighted the performance of his government tenures and services delivered to the country and nation. The people must compare while casting their votes that which political party had best served them, he said, adding: During our tenure, the interest rate was at about 5 percent, while the dollar and inflation was under control.

Nawaz said, “I have the right to ask my nation this question that do you think before voting what Nawaz Sharif’s performance was and what was that of his opponents; the nation should answer this. I have a complaint with the nation, as well. A prime minister is removed in a false case of not taking a salary from his son and the nation stays silent, this is not right.”

Nawaz disclosed that upon assuming power in 2013, the first thing he did was to visit PTI founder Imran Khan in Bani Gala in order to come to an agreement on working together for the country’s sake. Imran subsequently went to London, along with other political figures of the time, and then a plot was hatched, after which protests were launched in the country upon the PTI founder’s return, the PML-N leader said. “I visit you and you stab me in the back by assuring cooperation and then you begin protests in Islamabad’s D-Chowk,” Nawaz said without naming Imran. He added that his government had not impeded the formation of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the 2013 elections despite being in the position to do so through a coalition.

Nawaz also lauded the performance of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and added that Maryam also told him that in all matters she had seen contributions of Shehbaz.

Shehbaz Sharif said on the occasion that handing over of party’s leadership to Nawaz Sharif was the happy and satisfactory moments for him.

“Nawaz Sharif was removed from the party chairmanship illegally and it was severe violation of law and justice,” he said, adding: During hard times, party’s leadership was handed over to him and now again he handed over the party leadership to Nawaz Sharif.” Shehbaz also thanked the party for electing him as party president.

Earlier, the CWC accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif from the party’s presidency and nominated him as acting president till election of Nawaz Sharif on May 28.

The PML-N’s General Council has been convened at 11am on May 28, to elect Nawaz as president.

Speaking on the occasion, the PML-N Lahore president Saiful Malook Khokhar said that Nawaz Sharif is set to become the party president on May 28.

Among others former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz and other PML-N leaders, including Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Rana Tanveer, Mian Javed Latif, Rana Sanaullah, Hanif Abbasi and Talal Chaudhry attended the meeting.

Earlier, party leaders presented the resolution, calling for making the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif the party’s acting president. The PML-N’s Central Working Committee also nominated Rana Sanaullah as the chief election commissioner for the election of party president.

It may be noted that Shehbaz had resigned from the post last week, after consensus in the PML-N that the government and party offices must be separated and Nawaz is the right person to lead the party affairs. It may be recalled that May 28 is celebrated as Youm-e-Takbeer to mark the historic nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998 during Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure as prime minister.

Moreover, former interior minister and Advisor to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah told media that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s statements were no more than rhetoric and that the KP government would do what the federal government asked him to do. To a query, he said the government had no objection to parleys between the PTI and the establishment. “Right from the very start, the PTI has issues with the establishment,” he said, adding, “The party wants the latter to stand by it; to intervene in the country’s politics.”

When the PTI was in power, Rana said, it wanted to crush the opposition. “But when the establishment did not support it, its leaders started calling army generals Mir Jaafar and Mir Sadiq,” he added.

To a query, the PML-N leader opined that by looking at former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s picture leaked following his appearance in the Supreme Court via a video link, one got the impression as if all prohibited substances were being provided to him inside the jail.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024