Opposition gears up to overthrow PTI govt

LAHORE/SUKKUR/LONDON: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif Thursday said he was foreseeing Pakistan's downfall if the PTI-led government was not sent home.

"God forbid, if this government is not sent packing, we might see Pakistan’s ‘Khuda hafiz’ — so gear up," he said while addressing a party function held on the death anniversary of Khwaja Rafique, father of PML-N leaders Khwaja Saad Rafique and Khwaja Salman Rafique, at a Lahore hotel.

The seminar was also addressed by Khwaja Asif, Liaquat Baloch, Ayaz Sadiq, Khwaja Saad Rafique, senior journalist Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami and others. The time has come to remove the PTI government which was formed as a result of rigging, Shehbaz said, adding that Quaid-e-Azam "must be turning in his grave".

Slamming the PTI for its policies, he said, "I had revealed this three years ago that a NAB-Niazi nexus exists. They have mortgaged the country to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)."

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said if the premier liked unveiling projects "so much", he should have informed him, as he would award him a plaque for "unveiling so many plaques".

"Now, the time has come when the people will start grabbing them by their collars," he said. Claimants of millions of jobs have made millions of people jobless, he said, adding that politics were the name of public service and sharing the pain and suffering of the people.

Shehbaz said day and night work was done on 1,360MW coal power project in Sahiwal under CPEC and in the history of the world, Sahiwal project was completed in the shortest time. Speaking from London over phone, PML-N Quaid and former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Thursday said the country was facing inflation from inside and diplomatic isolation from outside.

“The green passport has lost its honour. We said goodbye to the IMF programme,” he said, adding that the nation was waiting when ‘he’ will commit suicide for taking loans from the IMF. Nawaz said Pakistan was not even offered a chair on the Security Council adding that a world leader was not attending Imran Khan’s calls, while another leader was not calling him.

He said the country’s reputation at the international level was that a country confiscated “our ship and another seized our hotel”. Those who destroyed the national airline should not be spared, he added.

Remembering Khwaja Rafiq, Nawaz said his departure created a vacuum and his absence was still felt in the country’s politics. “I am happy that his sons — Khwaja Saad and Khwaja Salman — are following in the footsteps of their father,” he said, adding that Khwaja Rafiq endured prisons and faced hardships but never bowed to the oppressors.

“My nephew Yusuf Abbas told me how both the Khwaja brothers faced hardships in jails but they didn’t leave their narrative,” he maintained. Giving example of the Sharif family, Nawaz said political revenge was taken on him and his family in the name of accountability.

The ex-premier said he along with his daughter was jailed while Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz and their families too faced jails on account of fake allegations. “Thank God that we remained steadfast. The nation gave us mandate three times. We brought prosperity and employment. The best roads have been built from Islamabad, Gwadar, and Gilgit to Skardu. We have built a new Pakistan which has reached its completion. We promised to end load-shedding and we fulfilled that promise,” he stated.

Nawaz claimed it was not possible to end loadshedding in five years but due to the hard work of Shehbaz Sharif, the PMLN government ended loadshedding in three years. “Terrorism was eradicated from Pakistan where terrorist attacks were taking place every day,” he said, adding, “We made Pakistan the cradle of peace and established peace in Karachi.”

Praising Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz said Shehbaz and his team built best hospitals and educational institutions in Punjab but some hidden forces stole the election in 2018 and the country was handed over to an incompetent gang.

“They raised the slogan of Naya Pakistan but destroyed the old Pakistan. The stock market was destroyed. Today dollar is of 180 rupees. Imran Khan is being called a puppet in Afghanistan. The American media is calling him the mayor of Islamabad. Millions of people have reached the brink of destruction. The children of the poor are in a bad condition due to hunger. How can a labourer earning around Rs20,000 live in these conditions?” he remarked.

He continued to grill the government and said who will be responsible for the sighs of the poor facing high petrol prices, highest-ever electricity bills, gas shortage, high prices of edibles and joblessness.

Nawaz said the rulers had taken away the happiness of the children of the nation. “Where is the country going? There is only one question on everyone's mind. The law is becoming a nose of wax and the state remains above the state. The Constitution, the country and democracy have been betrayed again and again, he said and added that the only way to fight the current situation is to stand up against the government.

“No one has the right to block your opinion. A nation which does not learn from its past can never move forward,” he concluded. PPP Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari Thursday said he will now pitch a party camp in Lahore where he will organize people and lodge a protest for the rights of the people.

“We have tried to heal the wounds of everyone and worked for development and prosperity of Pakistan. We ventured into the issues of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said while addressing party workers at the Zardari House in Nawabshah and Tando Allahyar.

“They have made Pakistan their fiefdom and decide who should be in power and who should not be. I will pitch a camp in Lahore and wage a decisive battle for the rule of law and prosperity of my motherland,” he said.

Zardari said the PPP always worked for welfare of the people and will continue to serve them led by Bilawal and Asifa Bhutto. “There are issues between the federal government and us that keep going. Now is the time to cope with them.”

Zardari further said they gave constitution to Pakistan and will defeat “those powers” with the power of the people. Talking about the performance of PPP during its tenure, Zardari said they always worked twice and thrice than the others.

“It’s a journey of life, with ups and downs. I spent an Eid in jail, it keeps happening, it’s a legacy of PPP. We continue our struggle on this journey. The people have seen that the PPP never made false promises in its manifesto,” the former president continued. Recalling the 2018 elections, Zardari said, “The PPP got trapped in engineered elections and they elected their own people; it’s Ok.”

Zardari said the PPP never made big claims but made big things by making small claims. He said from the first day, he had been telling the rulers to show their work, as there was poverty and the people’s condition was apathetic.

He said soon the reins of the country will again be in the hands of PPP with the power of votes of the people. “This change has destroyed the country. We will take it out of destruction, because this country is ours. We have oil, gas and coal. Despite all the minerals, wrong government policies have damaged the economy.”

He further said this time such a master plan has been made that the country will be on the path of development and prosperity adding that only Sindh province can run the whole country.

He said during his tenure everything was going bad but he made corrections. You need to look at how to take the next step, how to move forward, and how to move the country.” Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader and former federal minister Khawaja Saad Rafique predicted Imran Khan's "political death" in the near future.

Saad called on PML-N and PPP to join hands and initiate a political struggle, as he claimed that Imran Khan was not a part of the political fraternity. The ex-federal minister said joining hands was the only option to take the country forward and noted that pulling each other's legs would not help them progress.

"The state faces threats from within; we will have to think that we will be safe only if the country exists, so, do not play with its integrity," the PML-N leader warned. Rafique advised the state to not patronise anyone and not fall when a group stages a sit-in.

“If we mobilize the parliamentary board, then we will see the funeral of Imran Khan's politics coming out.” He said be it the judiciary, the establishment, the political leadership or the people of the media, everyone had to think about how to move the state forward instead of taking revenge from each other.

Khawaja Saad Rafique further said that General Ayub was the first person to be pushed into the American quagmire on the basis of malice and the character of those who spoke the word of truth started decaying. Pakistan got freedom on paper but it has not been delivered to the common man, he claimed.

“If we want to put Pakistan back on the track, then all political parties have to be taken on board,” he maintained. He said if half a million people come on the streets then no one can apply martial law. Resolutions were also presented in the session, which were approved by the participants with a show of hands.

PML-N leader Khawaja Asif said the PTI-led government had tuned "politics into obscenity", as he said Imran Khan "had established some new traditions".

"We have seen several things in the last three-and-a-half years [...] Shabbar Zaidi and Razak Dawood are saying that the country is bankrupt." "If the government does not accept its wrongdoing, how will the process of forgiveness begin?" he questioned.

Former Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said Khawaja Muhammad Rafique gave his time for democracy. He said that Imran Khan should wear the shoes of democracy. He said truth was told in the state of Madina but in the time of Imran Niazi only false accusations were leveled.

Ayaz Sadiq said like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab will also respond to the local bodies elections in a similar manner. “The romance that the youth had with Imran Khan is now over,” he taunted and said their vehicle was punctured and their audios and videos were being leaked.

Ayaz said he will go to London again next month to meet Nawaz Sharif. “Nawaz Sharif has left his decision to the court of Allah and the result is coming soon,” he said without giving any clarity about what he meant.

He claimed that Nawaz Sharif was coming back to Pakistan soon. He said whoever brought Imran Khan should think that keeping him in power would be a national catastrophe. As long as Imran remains in the government, the country would be in danger, he added.

Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami said that the feudal system could not end in Pakistan. “Nothing has been proved against Khawaja Saad Rafique and despite all hardships he did not leave the path of his father.”

He said the present government, which was protecting the NAB rules, will also come under its grip after turning of the tables. Deputy Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch said the bus built in Peshawar does not run but burns.

“Rs20 billion has been spent on one kilometer of BRT,” Baloch said adding that he never thought that Khawaja Muhammad Rafiq would be brutally killed. “Khawaja Muhammad Rafiq was the beginning of targeted killing in politics,” he said, adding that the country was currently suffering from ideological, cultural and moral crisis, which could only be overcome by a real democracy.

He said the electoral crisis was deepening, the election of 2018 was rigged and now the government and the establishment were announcing that they were on the same page. The biggest crisis was that the state institutions themselves have been in great danger for their very existence, he said and maintained that Kashmir was sold.