Stop PML-N from locking horns with institutions first, Shah tells Shahbaz

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah Tuesday dubbed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) two sides of the same coin saying both had the same agenda of defaming politics.

“Imran Khan’s agenda is to dishonour his opponents through accusations and abuses, while the PML-N has also started hurling abuses at its opponents,” he said while talking to newsmen at Parliament House.

Khursheed said political parties always gave future programmes like the PPP did but Imran had no future planning. He also termed the Billion Tree Tsunami project a ‘forgery’ and said it seemed Imran had planted the trees in the air. He asked as to why the Guinness World Records had ignored the project if it had been a reality.

“We set the world record of planting trees in Sindh which was acknowledged by a team of Guinness World Records that visited Sindh during the plantation drive,” he said. Replying to a question about the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s advice to politicians, the judiciary and the army to sit together, Khursheed termed the statement an eye-wash and said first Shahbaz Sharif should stop his party from clashing with other institutions.

Replying to another question about the remarks of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in an interview to a private TV channel in which he compared ex-prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with Pharaoh, Khursheed said he should avoid making such remarks about a leader with whom he spent a long period of his life.

“If Nawaz Sharif was Pharaoh then what to say about the honesty of a person who spent a big part of his life with the Pharaoh?” The opposition leader said Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was a member of Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet and he should tell why he had worked with the Pharaoh.

“Maybe we should also call Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan a little Pharaoh,” he said. “I always asked Nawaz Sharif to be aware of snakes in his sleeves and now he has realised why I was saying this to him,” he said.

The opposition leader said Chaudhry Nisar did not like his role to save democracy in 2014. To another question about the caretaker setup, Khursheed said he will do his best to settle the issue of caretaker setup through Parliament.

“At the moment, the whole exercise is at the initial stage, as neither the prime minister nor I have given names for the caretaker setup. The names will be finalised by May 31,” he said. He advised the opposition parties to forward the names of their nominees for the caretaker setup directly to him because if they suggested their names in the public rallies then they will become controversial after which they will have to withdraw their names.

Replying to a question about the PTI’s statement that they will have their own man as the opposition leader in the Senate, Khursheed termed the demand undemocratic saying it was the democratic right of a party that enjoyed the trust and support of majority members from the opposition bench.