LAHORE: The PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said he didn’t know what his future held for him and where exactly he would be after 20 days, but he could promise that his principled stance would not change, come what may.
Referring to Imran Khan and the Senate elections, he said those taking orders from the top should shun politics. “The circus that took place in the Senate elections can only happen in Pakistan,” he remarked. “The way the PPP and the PTI colluded and bought votes to manipulate the Senate elections is a sad reality, especially after Pervaiz Khattak's admission that the orders to do so came from the top,” he added. “Saying that by ‘orders from the top’ he meant Bani Gala is a lame cover up, because everyone knows what ‘an order from the top’ means,” he said.
Nawaz said the Parliament and the Executive have been rendered absolutely powerless. “Where is the writ of the political government? I ask the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Chief Minister of Punjab. Does it exist at any level? Are they able to claim a balance between the three pillars [Parliament, Executive and Judiciary]”, Nawaz questioned. “The judiciary of gave Musharraf a licence to kill the Constitution,” he remarked.
Addressing a gathering of party workers and leaders from Faisalabad and Gujranwala at Model Town, he said after every five years, a stable government is hit by an unforeseen chaos out of nowhere “which is a painful reality that we have to live with”. “It is because of the instability that the country has fallen way behind the pace it was progressing with, before the July 28 verdict,” he noted. “The bilateral and trade relationship between China and India is improving day-by-day, while we struggle with political turmoil,” he said and expressed his concerns over the perception, being given to the world, regarding Pakistan being so divided that it cannot capitalise even on the historic relationship with its best friend China. “The country should not be put through such financial and social turmoil just to target us. We had suffered similar circumstances before as well in 1990s and we will bear the same now but would Pakistan be able to sustain such a scenario,” he questioned.
Nawaz pointed out that the stock market plummeted from 53,000 to 37,000 points after his disqualification and said Pakistan would not meet the financial responsibilities if it did not achieve a growth rate of 7 per cent. “We took the reins of the country with the growth rate at 3.9 and took it to 5.8 per cent and were making fast progress towards achieving the target of 7 per cent. However, after the post-disqualification turmoil, the IMF has predicted that it would fall to 4.9 per cent,” he pointed out.
“The cases made against us have absolutely no substance as it is evident from the statements of the witnesses that ended up vindicating us,” he said. “I am in no way shaken by any of this, challenges are part of life and I will never shy away from such challenges.” “These oppressive measures do not scare me. We will stand firm against such unfair designs because unless we all stand against such oppression, Pakistan’s next 70 years would not be any different from the realities witnessed in the past seven decades,” he warned. “This is not just about me,” he said, adding: “There has not been a single prime minister who completed his term.
He asked the party members “whether we will always take all this lying down or will ever stand up taking a principled stand” “If this stance could not be taken, there is no moral ground to represent the people of this country. We would need to change our approach and the way of thinking and rise above our personal interests. There is no shame in conceding to the fact that we have not been able to reform this system, but it is never too late to start,” said Nawaz.
“We should seek forgiveness from the Almighty Allah and the people and should resolve to change this trend,” he said and told the gathering if they wholeheartedly worked with this resolve, there is no doubt they would be victorious.
He directed the PML-N members to start preparing for the upcoming elections wholeheartedly with the vision of a future where the vote and those elected by its power are respected. “If we want to build a prosperous Pakistan for the future generations, we will need to change the path and do away with the shameful history of disrupting of democratic governments,” he stressed. “We apparently haven’t learnt from our past even after losing almost half of our country in 1971 and have continued with the same policies and course of action that led to the dismemberment of the country,” said Nawaz.
Talking about the recent string of PML-N parliamentarians joining other parties, he said efforts have been afoot to change the loyalties of his party loyalists, but those leaving the PML-N have a history and the party leadership already knew that they would flee at the first signal.