Swabi rally: Fresh polls to pull country out of crises, says PML-N

SWABI: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders on Friday said that fresh and fair election was sine qua none to pull the country out of the prevailing morass.

They were addressing a convention of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers here. A large number of PML-N workers and local party leaders attended the convention. "The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rule has weakened the institutions.

The objective of the gathering is to mobilise the party workers in the wake of increasing political temperature in the country," former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the gathering.

He said that the PTI government would not be able to survive the struggle launched under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which started from Gujranwala and would finally reach Islamabad, to get the country rid of the "selected" government. Khaqan Abbasi said the constitution of the country was violated because Sindh province was targeted by the federal government. "The Sindh chief minister was threatened by the federal government that his government would be dismissed if a case was not registered against Captain Safdar," he asserted.

He said that the 2018 general election was manipulated in favour of the PTI. "No one is allowed to decide as to who would be the prime minister. This is the right of the people of Pakistan," he declared, adding that no one was allowed to make decision behind closed doors. He said that the PTI government had weakened due to its wrong policies as the rulers did not consider the problems facing the poor people.

Criticising National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, he maintained that he could not run the proceedings of the House in accordance with the constitution, asking him to step down. "Asad Qaiser did not allow any member of the assembly to talk about inflation and welfare of the people. He has made the assembly hostage," he said.

PML-N central general secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that when Nawaz Sharif assumed power after 2013 general election, the economic situation was very feeble and terrorism was at its peak and the country was facing prolonged loadshedding but the PML-N government resolved all these issues during its constitutional tenure.

The PML-N government, he believed, added 1100 megawatts electricity to the national grid and ended loadshedding and formulated the Nation Action Plan to eradicate the menace of terrorism. "The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a mega project to change the economic destiny of the country, but CEPC was rolled back by the Imran Khan government under an international conspiracy," he said. "This government is responsible for the prevailing mess in the country," he declared.

Javed Murtaza Abbasi, former deputy speaker of National Assembly, said that the future belonged to PML-N, urging party workers to get ready for the next general election. "The PTI leaders would face a humiliating defeat as they could not deliver on the pledges," he said. Amir Muqam, provincial president of PML-N, said that the entire world knew that the PTI's government was the worst in the country's history.