“Cruel joke played on Pakistan for personal gains”: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 20 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif has said that for the sake of personal gains, a cruel joke has been played on Pakistan, reported the Dawn newspaper.

“A cruel joke had been played on Pakistan… for the sake of personal gains,” Sharif said on being asked by reporters if he held the former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and former spymaster Gen Faiz Hamid responsible for the state of the country. “The reality is before everyone. Now no name or face is hidden,” he said.

This is the first time that Sharif broke his silence after his party faced a major political blow in Punjab following Parvez Elahi’s victory in a vote of confidence shortly before the dissolution of the provincial assembly. “We all discussed the situation in Pakistan. Pakistan will come out of this difficult situation and we will be the ones to take the country out of it,” Sharif said.

“In my Gujranwala jalsa, I stated who was responsible and everything was out in the open. It is my responsibility to tell the nation about the wrongs committed against the people, and it is my responsibility to make things right,” he said, as quoted by Dawn newspaper. Sharif recently directed party leaders to start preparing for provincial elections in Punjab with full force, the Express Tribune reported, adding the decision was conveyed by the former PM.

Sharif’s decision follows the dissolution of Punjab’s provincial assemblies, the report further stated, adding that the chief minister of Punjab Province, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, gained a majority in the assembly and formally advised the governor to dissolve the House. The Tribune further reported that Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted that Nawaz has taken a ‘big decision’ in directing the party to get ready for the elections in Punjab.

Addressing the meeting virtually, the PML-N supremo directed his brother and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to set up a parliamentary board committee to oversee the party’s preparations for the polls. The Express Tribune report quoted the former Pakistan PM as saying in the report, “Move ahead with full passion, confidence, preparation and strength”, adding that all resources should be mobilised and efforts made to ensure the party’s win in the provincial polls.

Nawaz Sharif is likely to return to his home country next month, the Dawn newspaper reported. Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman recently indicated that Sharif would return ‘within a month’. “Nawaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan within a month and I will go to the airport to receive him,” the Punjab governor claimed in a chat with journalists, as quoted by Dawn.