Referring to the legislators who recently quit Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said that "turncoats" were never part of his party. Talking to reporters outside the Accountability Court hearing corruption cases against him and his family members, Sharif said that the legislators - including MNAs and MPAs - who parted ways with PML-N were never part of his party. Earlier, he, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) appeared before the Accountability Court amid tight security arrangements.
Sharif further said those who had quit the party a day ago were those who did not vote for him during a vote on the Political Parties Act in the National Assembly. "This is a group of 10 to 15 legislators who did not vote for me. These turncoats were in our mind." They had joined dictators and public representatives during military regimes and democratic set-ups respectively, he said.
He said such people give politics a bad name. Referring to MNAs who quit the PML-N, he said he was surprised by their eagerness to turn southern Punjab into a separate province. "Something probably descended on those legislators who left PML-N," he said. Sharif further said that the people of southern Punjab are as satisfied as the people of central or upper Punjab. The recent by-election in Lodhran is one of the clear examples of his party's growing popularity, Sharif said. The former prime minister added that the people of Lodhran elected even a lesser known candidate of PML-N.
He termed the entry of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in politics a bad omen. He also expressed serious concern over increasing incidents of missing persons. "Those who are responsible for the issue of missing persons are committing heinous crimes," he said.