PML-N to come apart soon: Shibli Faraz

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday said PML-N Quaid and ex-prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s narrative was aimed at creating uncertainty and chaos in the country, while his own party was restive on this narrative.

Talking to reporters here, Shibli said some of PML-N members understood that their leader was using them for his personal interests and that there were also good people in the PML-N. He said the PML-N movement, which it wanted to launch, was baseless. He said Nawaz Sharif’s revolutionary stance was fake and based on double standard, noting that various voices were being raised on his narrative in his own party. “Clouds of uncertainty and anxiety are hovering over Jati Umrah,” he maintained.

The minister said the Sharif family was also facing certain issues and quoted Sheikh Rasheed, who had remarked that more divisions in the PML-N ranks would surface soon. He said the political movement of PML-N was baseless and without any solid reason for they wanted to create chaos, which was now evident in its own ranks.

Shibli wondered under these circumstances, what would be the moral value of PML-N’s activities and moves. He claimed that the noose had tightened around the PML-N leadership due to the NAB cases.

In this situation, he said, the opposition was making desperate efforts to blackmail the government and was threatening to tender resignations. He repeated Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent statement that if they (opposition) resigns, the government will hold by-elections and get majority in the House, which will also prove beneficial for legislation.

The opposition, he noted, was using various tactics to dislodge the government, but they would fail in their designs. Shibli said the PML-N was looking for a deal and making contacts constantly with government's people.

After failing to frustrate the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related legislation, he contended now the opposition wanted to come on the streets and that the PML-N leaders had always done politics of nepotism because they had been in politics for making assets.

The minister said owing to various initiatives of the government, the country was achieving economic stability adding that the prime minister was committed to the accountability of all the corrupt elements.

Meanwhile, PML-N secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday said there are no differences between PML-N leaders and that the party is ready to oust the incumbent government.

Speaking in Geo News programme "Naya Pakistan", he dismissed the notion that there were no ideological differences between PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

"Any member of the party is free to express their opinion, but all members stick to whatever decision the party arrives at over any matter," he said. Iqbal said the PML-N "owns Nawaz's statement" and is starting a democratic resistance against the incumbent government along with other opposition parties.

The PML-N secretary-general said that the current circumstances call for a "reset" and that it is a time for self-reflection. He said the country's political parties must realise their shortcomings in the past.

Iqbal said that the opposition's efforts must be viewed as a political struggle; it is not aiming at an armed resistance. He said that there was a need to move the country from the tracks that it had been on for the last 72 years. "We have to ensure that the constitution is upheld, that there is freedom of the judiciary, and a transparent political system."

Referring to yesterday's meeting between parliamentary leaders of the party and the media, Iqbal said that it was an important one, as Shahbaz highlighted the efforts made during his government in Punjab to save the national exchequer's funds.

Talking about the Tallal Chaudry incident, which continues to be mired in controversy, he said that the PML-N had formed a four-member fact-finding committee to probe the event. Iqbal said everyone is aware of "the sort of politics that government representatives do". He urged everyone to avoid baseless speculation in the matter.

Iqbal, assuring that a transparent probe would be conducted, said that a woman had been made part of the committee. Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan claimed that around 50 members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) in Punjab were ready to quit their party over the stance of Nawaz Sharif against country's institutions.

Addressing a press conference, he said Nawaz Sharif was not the head of PML-N and no defection clause could be imposed on any of the PML-N MPA if he differs from Nawaz Sharif. He said the PML-N president in the election commission record was Shahbaz Sharif, and not Nawaz, and urged that they must exhibit their love for Pakistan publicly and come forward against Nawaz, who had become Altaf Hussain-2.

Chohan said that like Punjab, many dissidents would emerge in Senate and National Assembly in negation of Nawaz's stance against country's institutions. He said it was mandatory for the PML-N members not to let Nawaz Sharif and his daughter use them as a shield to protect their corruption. Chohan said that Mian Jaleel Sharqpuri had shown his true spirits and love for Pakistan adding issuance of any show-cause notice against him by his party had no legal worth as Nawaz had nothing to do with the PML-N headship now.

Regarding Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the JUI-F chief, he said he made assets worth trillions of rupees and he must remember the situation of former president Asif Ali Zardari who had challenged the NAB chairman to summon him years ago.

He said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman would have to face accountability process. He said Nationality Bureau (NAB) was conducting a thorough investigation against the JUI-F leader. About Talal Chaudhry, he said the PML-N leader had held a rally in Faisalabad four years ago and made the worst gestures about Imran Khan.

"Maryam Safdar applauded Talal by calling him at the Prime Minister’s House. Maryam used to appreciate him in her daily meetings. “Let’s see when Maryam Nawaz expels Talal Chaudhry from the PML-N," he added. The minister said that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had decided that cases of harassment of women would be looked into by the Information Department itself.