Imran Khan said the PML-N chief came to politics “polishing General Zia’s shoes”.
Islamabad:
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday criticized former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on three occasions for accusing the army chief of rigging elections and installing a “puppet government” in Islamabad.
Sharif, the 70-year-old leader of the Muslim League of Pakistan (Nawaz) who was ousted from power in 2017 by the Supreme Court for corruption, on Friday for the first time directly appointed the chief of the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed for interfering in the 2018 elections to ensure Imran Khan’s victory.
Responding to Sharif, Khan said on Saturday that the PML-N supremo came to politics by “polishing General Zia’s shoes” – a reference to Sharif’s entry into politics in the 1980s during the dictator’s martial law. military officer of the time, General Zia-ul Haq.
Khan said Sharif chose to use negative language against army leaders at a time when soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the nation.
“Why are they sacrificing their lives? For us, for the country. And that jackal running with his tail between his legs used such language for the army chief and DG ISI,” Khan said.
The mighty army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70-plus years of existence, has so far wielded considerable power in security and foreign policy.
Khan said Sharif took rupee “crores” from Meeran Bank in the late 1980s to fight the elections against Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
“This is the man who put (PPP co-chair Asif Ali) Zardari in jail twice. It was Zardari who brought the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against him (Sharif), not General Bajwa” , Khan said.
Commenting on the joint rally of opposition parties, Khan called it a “circus”.
He also targeted PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, claiming that the two “children” who never worked an hour in their lives and who lived using their “ill-gotten gains. fathers “were making speeches.
Khan said these rulers would even sell the country to protect their wealth which they amassed through illegal means.
On September 20, nearly a dozen opposition parties launched the PDM and announced a three-phase anti-government movement to overthrow Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government led by Imran Khan.
Addressing the PDM rally in Gujranwala on Friday, Sharif said: “(Army chief) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has ended my government. He rigged the 2018 election and imposed Imran Khan incapable to the nation. General Bajwa is a direct culprit and he will have to answer that. “
“You can call me a traitor if you like, seize my properties, file bogus lawsuits against me but I will continue to speak on behalf of my people,” said Sharif, who faces multiple corruption charges and is currently out on bail.
This is not the first time that Sharif has attacked military leaders. At the all-party opposition conference last month, he sharply criticized the military, saying there was “a state above the state in the country.” However, he had refrained from naming anyone.
The PML-N leader, however, made it clear that he was not against the military but against certain individuals who violated the Constitution.
Since its anti-army rant, the federal government has banned the media from broadcasting Sharif’s speeches.
Opposition parties are openly protesting against military interference in politics and elections for the first time in the country’s recent history.
Sharif has been living in London since November last year after being allowed by the courts and the government to travel there for an eight week period for medical treatment. But he did not return, as his lawyers told the court he was still recovering.
The High Court in Islamabad, through newspaper advertisements, asked Sharif to appear before it by November 24 to avoid being declared a “declared offender”.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
