Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said Pakistan might face US sanctions on the basis of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's controversial remarks on 2008 Mumbai attacks. Talking to the journalists here, Qureshi said narrative of Sharif is not going to pay as it has completely been flopped both inside and outside the country.
He said Sharifs who ruled the roost for last three decades can not befool the masses anymore as people have tested them again and again but they failed to deliver every time when they were given opportunity to serve the masses. About appointment of a caretaker prime minister as the incumbent government is set to complete its term on May 31, he said all the parties are yet to build consensus on any candidate who will be handpicked as interim premier.
"We have not been consulted for the candidature of the caretaker prime minister and there has been no consensus on any name which will be the next caretaker premier," he added.
Qureshi further said if the government has a fair intention then it should work on the constitutional amendment for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Shah said the PTI has always favoured the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and it wants elections, including local body polls, to be held in the area.
The former premier's interview generated much criticism and backlash for him. Nawaz, in an interview to English daily published on May 12, had said, "Militant organizations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?"
His remarks were wrongfully played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attacks and also led to criticism from opposition political parties in Pakistan and local media.