Sharifs have no role in country’s future: Sh Rashid

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Friday said that the Nawaz Sharif family had no role in the country’s future politics, advising them to avoid further wait for having any good opportunity. Talking to the media, Sheikh Rashid said that no drastic change was happening in the country’s politics without Nawaz Sharif and added that all the four Sharifs were now minus and had no further role in politics. He said Nawaz Sharif wanted to return to the country but he was waiting for the rainy season.

He said that the hand on Imran Khan's head would not be placed on Sharifs’ head, rather it could their throat. He said that the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif is "more corrupt than his brother Nawaz Sharif."

The statement came during a press conference here as the interior minister took a jibe at the opposition for criticising the government's economic policies and its decision to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Rashid said it was "alright for the former governments to seek foreign assistance but an issue is being created when Prime Minister Imran Khan has made a similar move."

"It is ‘halal’ if the opposition reaches out to the IMF but ‘haram’ if Imran Khan does this," Rasheed said. "These people [former rulers] have reached out to the IMF 23 times in the past," he added.

He said that the present government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would complete its tenure and expressed the confidence that it would also return again for the next tenure. The minister said that opposition parties were in a state of disappointment and stress as against their wishes, the present government was successfully running the state affairs.

He said that the government had already completed its three-and-a-half-year tenure while the opposition needed further warm-up time. Sheikh Rashid said, “The opposition has been saying since last year that PTI is going to lose power, but it should be clear about any misunderstanding about the government.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan is so lucky to have got such incompetent and ineffective opposition,” he said. He said the present opposition had no vision to understand the prevailing situation and they had selected the wrong time for holding the protest.

They already lost their time and now they would get nothing but to spoil their and our time, he said. Sheikh Rashid said, “We will welcome them and not stop them or take any action against their long march unless they hold the protest peacefully.

He added that they were politically visionless people as there was no reason for holding two separate long marches in the country whenlocal government elections were going to be held soon.

He said the government had to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the weak economic policies of the past governments. “Opposition parties have looted the country’s money during their tenures without realising the negative impacts of their wrongdoings on all sectors of the country.

He said, “Their feeble economic plans compel us to accept this hard deal just to move the economy of the country on right track.” He expressed the hope that things would improve now and more investment would come in the country besides progress in other sectors.

He said that this year March 23 would be an important day as many important personalities of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are likely to visit Pakistan.

He predicted that the Chinese J-10C flying pass is also expected in the historical March 23 Pakistan Day parade. He said that under Ehsas Programme an amount of Rs180 billion had been distributed to 15 million deserving people of the country. He added the PM had approved the expansion in storage capacity of two dams in order to generate additional 10,000MW electricity from 13 million acre-feet (MAF) to 26 MAF.