Nawaz draws distinction between May 9 vandalism, May 28 unclear tests

Referring to the May 9 vandalism and May 28 nuclear tests, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif said that people of the country will always hate and love these two events, respectively.

He was referring to the events when violent protests broke out following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 and Pakistan became the nuclear-armed country on May 28 in 1998.

“The people of Pakistan will continue to hate May 9 and love May 28 as there is a stark distinction between these two events,” the three-time prime minister said in an audio message played at the PML-N’s public gathering organised to celebrate the Youm-e-Takbeer, which marks the historic day when Pakistan conducted successful nuclear tests in the hills of Chaghai 25 years ago.

PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz and other party leaders also addressed the gathering.

Nawaz, who has been living in London since November 2019 on medical grounds, said despite the pressure of international powers he went ahead with his decision of conducting nuclear tests in 1998 as prime minister of the country.

“We don’t have any aggressive intentions against anyone but we cannot allow anyone to have ill intentions against Pakistan,” he added

He also slammed his ouster from power in 2017 saying that all those elements who conspired against him had been exposed.

Addressing the gathering, Maryam took a jibe at Imran Khan, saying: “If a coward was leading Pakistan on May 28 1998, he would have hidden with a bucket over his head”.

Calling the PTI chief “jackal”, she said he was begging the US for help during “tough times” after accusing it of toppling his government through conspiracy.

“Brave nations are led by brave leaders,” she added.

Maryam, the scion of the Sharif family's political dynasty, said the PTI chief while “sitting in a bunker in Zaman Park inciting his supporters to violence”. Khan has been using his Lahore's Zaman Park residence since he was injured in an assassination attempt in Wazirabad on November 3 2022.

The PML-N stalwart also hailed her father Nawaz for rejecting a $5 billion offer to compromise on nuclear tests saying: “This is called absolutely not”.

Earlier today, in a Youm-e-Takbeer message, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is also PML-N president, reaffirmed that the national defence and sovereignty are impregnable.

He said that Youm-e-Takbeer was a clear declaration of "no compromise over country’s sovereignty, and defence", and a reminder that the nation would not budge from any sacrifice to safeguard.