‘Courts coerced, parliament mere rubber stamp’

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday said there is a pressure on courts to take favourable verdicts while the parliament has become a rubber stamp. He was addressing a meeting of the PML-N Executive Committee here on Wednesday. He said Shahbaz Sharif is a man of action and he salutes his bravery. Nawaz said he is proud of his brother who has set an example of loyalty and ideological commitment.

PML-N Vice President and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Maryam Nawaz, Ahsan Iqbal, Raja Zafarul Haq, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Maryam Aurangzeb, Khurram Dastgir, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Atta Tarar, Burjis Tahir and other senior members were also present in the meeting.

Nawaz said he was saddened by the treatment of Shahbaz Sharif. “Insha’Allah we will intensify our struggle. We are proud that our comrades are facing the situation with courage,” he stated.

Shahbaz has shown unparalleled courage and perseverance, Nawaz said and added that he salutes Shahbaz for his honesty to the nation. He said Shahbaz worked hard day and night to set up power plants in Punjab. Shahbaz Sharif, Khwaja Asif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the head of their financial team Ishaq Dar provided resources and he pays tribute to this team for serving the nation during his government. He said he also salutes government officials who played a role in alleviating the energy shortage. He said he would not spend his life as slave in his own country.

He said: “I have decided unequivocally that we cannot live a life of humiliation, we will live a life of honour. Allah Almighty will give us a chance to live a life of honour,” he announced. He said that after liberation from the British rule, "we ended up being slaves of our own people."

If the nation decides to stand up against the excesses, change will come in a few months and weeks, not in years, he said and hoped that change will definitely come. He said the elected prime minister was replaced by an insane man, he said, adding that those who brought him will have to answer for it because they are the real culprits. He said he will be available to the party on a daily basis and will fulfil the duty assigned by the party. He said he looks forward to party consultation and will equally take part in devising the strategy to achieve goals.

He thanked Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman and Raja Farooq Haider and said their opinion is very important. He said some part of the Sukkur Hyderabad Motorway was not completed and if he was allowed to complete his term, this project should also have been completed.

He said during his government, the highway from Dera Ismail Khan to Quetta was under construction, development of Gwadar was started and it was connected with highways under the CPEC project. He said everyone knew how hard the PML-N worked and honestly tried to uplift the lives of the people of Pakistan. Cheap things were available to people in his government as the problem of inflation was solved, he said, adding that today the life of people has become miserable, electricity and gas bills are falling like bombs on them.

The PML-N is not struggling for a specific group or caste but is struggling for 22 crore people whose hardships and sufferings have increased immensely in the PTI government. Nawaz said his party has stood for the people of Pakistan and he knew that the people of Pakistan will also respond to the party when it will call them to streets.

Later, talking to the media, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the PML-N will emerge as a major force in implementing the agenda decided in the APC by the Pakistan Democratic Movement. He said the PML-N CEC meeting endorsed the views of PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and the agenda of the APC and the PDM. The meeting slammed the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif. The meeting proposed to Nawaz Sharif that he should complete his treatment and should return after his doctors give him a green signal. The meeting said Nawaz is a national asset and should not jeopardise his life at any cost under any pressure.

Abbasi said the PML-N Quaid asked for recommendations regarding a strategy to achieve the party goals and said that the PML-N is on a righteous path which is why it has no fear and will do everything to rid the country of this illegal, undemocratic and incompetent government. He renewed his demand of a truth commission and said the people of Pakistan deserve to know the truth about what happened in the country since 1947.

He said the struggle to reclaim Pakistan and its parliament will continue and the wrongdoings of seven decades cannot be corrected in a day or a week. He pointed out that not a single bill concerning public plight has been tabled in the parliament by the government so far.

He slammed the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif and said it exposed the cowardice, insecurity and shameless tactics of the PTI government.