PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who is on his bid to become PM for the fourth time, has called out the people who brought cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan to power after ousting him from the public office in 2018. But he did not name them.
“A person was brought to power who only abused others. The people who brought him are also equally responsible,” he said while talking to the members of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday.
In his maiden speech after returning to the country on October 21, Nawaz shunned any approach of seeking revenge against his rivals or the people whom he blamed for his ouster. It was a big change from his “accountability narrative”.
The PML-N supremo has spoken about his previous rule in recent interactions with party workers and businessmen but abstained from taking the name of his successor and the people he used to blame for allegedly removing him from power.
“How can a country run where prime ministers are frequently changed?” he said, “a comprehensive policy will only be made when all other matters are fine. To be honest I think we are responsible for this. We cut off our nose to spite our face.”
He went on to add that the country cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes again while speaking about the PTI government, which the-then opposition used to describe “hybrid regime”.
Nawaz reiterated that he and some of his party members were jailed on “false charges”.
The PML-N supremo called for the supremacy of the Constitution and alleged that sit-ins damaged the economy.
“Representative of millions of people was thrown out by five people,” he said and wondered the reasons for his jail sentence.
Without naming Khan, he said that the PTI chief only bad-mouthed his political rivals.
The PML-N supremo reiterated his claims that a former US president had offered him billions of dollars in aid to end the nuclear program, however, he refused it.
The PML-N supremo advised his supporters to not “repeat past mistakes”, reiterating that his previous governments were dislodged
“I have seen good times and bad times. As a prime minister, I have cases and endured jail terms as well as deportation. But I never give up,” he said while addressing the workers’ convention in Sialkot earlier in the day.
The PML-N has long maintained that the “path to development” was stopped after Nawaz was indicted and disqualified from holding the public office in 2017. For a long time, the N-league blamed the PTI chairman and a few jurists and army men for the situation.
But the party has changed its narrative and according to analyst Hamid Mir the party has made “some compromises”.
“Pakistan was not only derailed from the path of development but the entire development track was dismantled,” Nawaz said, “I’m not sure why our government was overthrown in 1993; at the time, both our economy and the value of the rupee were stronger than those of our neighbors.
While addressing the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry earlier this month, he claimed that India attained economic development after adopting PML-N’s policies.
On Saturday, the former prime minister boasted about his government’s tenure while speaking about inflation, load shedding, terrorism, and unemployment.
“Pakistan is such a beautiful country that we could have turned it into a paradise. But we were ousted and someone who did not know anything else than abusing others was brought in [to rule the country] after the 2018 elections.
“He [Imran Khan] did not come to power but was brought in, so the people who brought him are equally responsible,” Nawaz said. But he did not mention the names of the people.
More to follow…
