Trains guns on his jailed political arch nemesis; Describes election win as validation of governance
Chairing an important meeting of PML-N senators in Murree, Nawaz Sharif instructed the senators to actively highlight public issues in the Senate. SCREENGRAB
LAHORE:
PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, stepping out of the shadows to celebrate his party’s commanding victory in the recent by-elections, on Wednesday asserted that those who propelled now-jailed ex-premier Imran Khan to power were even greater culprits than the incarcerated leader himself.
He called for their accountability, all the while deftly sidestepping any direct mention of the establishment.
Addressing newly elected parliamentarians of both the Punjab and National Assembly, Nawaz marked the PML-N’s win in 12 out of 13 contested seats.
Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, along with senior party leaders Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Pervez Rashid, were also present.
Both Nawaz Sharif and Maryam lambasted the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for covertly contesting the elections despite publicly announcing a boycott.
They framed the victories as a testament to party performance and service delivery, a narrative independent analysts might question.
Addressing the gathering for the first time since his surgery, according to Maryam, Nawaz said the narrative surrounding Imran Khan and those who installed him, marked by hooliganism, thuggery, robbery and foul language, had come crashing down.
“They have been exposed on all these counts,” he said, alleging that under Khan’s tenure, the country suffered not only financial bankruptcy but also social, moral and diplomatic decline.
“Khan breached disrespect, for elders, youngsters and womenfolk. He came here playing cricket, and that’s exactly what he did in power as well.”
He also pointed out the return of the IMF during Khan’s government, contrasting it with his own tenure when he had bid farewell to the fund.
Nawaz attributed the people’s votes to PML-N’s performance and service delivery, crediting his daughter Maryam Nawaz, chief minister of Punjab, and his brother Shehbaz Sharif, the country’s premier. “Both have outpaced me in every which way, and I am happy to acknowledge that,” he said.
The PML-N president further accused PTI of hypocrisy in their election boycott.
“PTI said they would boycott the election, but what sort of boycott is it when Omer Ayub’s wife contests elections herself?” he asked, adding that PTI leaders displayed pictures of their leaders.
He cited Haripur as an example, where the PML-N defeated PTI by a margin of 44,000 votes in PTI’s stronghold.
Slamming mismanagement during the PTI tenure, he added, “be it Punjab or Centre, with frequent changes in chief secretaries and inspector generals. Under Maryam Nawaz, there is order in Punjab, and everything is happening on merit”.
There is a feel-good factor in Punjab that has returned after a long time, he added.
Maryam Nawaz, addressing the newly elected lawmakers, said those who tried to erase Nawaz Sharif from history, whether Pervez Musharraf or [Lt] General Faiz Hameed, are now in the dustbins of history.
She said that the by-elections had buried Imran’s politics of hate and division and restored the politics of service delivery.
Responding to the criticism of being heir of the Sharif family, she said that they may be a byproduct of dynasty politics, but other than politics, they also inherited ethics, discipline and selflessness. “We did not learn victimisation and hurling abuses or incompetence.”
She questioned PTI’s two-faced boycott strategy, pointing out that they fielded candidates as independents.
“If they had won, PTI would have used them to run down PML-N. Not only did we beat them in Punjab, but we also thrashed them in their own province. We have won all by-elections under PTI as well,” she added.
It is pertinent to mention here that under this regime, corrosive measures have remained the hallmark of governance, including running vile campaigns on social media, spearheaded by social media accounts followed by the chief minister herself.
