Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has lashed out at the federal government, and said that the ruling party has drowned the country’s economy under debts just as inflation is increasing at an “alarming level”.
Addressing a National Assembly session in Islamabad on Tuesday, he said: “Five million people have been rendered unemployed… it has become impossible for the poor to afford two square meals a day.”
He said those who pledged to give 10 million jobs have made the lives of the masses miserable, referring to the ruling party’s pre-election promises.
“The price of electricity and petrol have skyrocketed… the finance minister would say the government would not impose taxes on fuel,” the PML-N president said, adding that the incumbent government during its three-year rule did not build a “single penny” project.
Responding to his tirade, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said Shehbaz had vowed to drag PPP leader Asif Zardari on the streets and bring back the country’s looted wealth. “His own brother [Nawaz Sharif] plundered the country and fled,” she added.
Another ruling party MNA Ali Muhammad Khan said the PML-N supreme leader, who has been in London since 2019, should come back to the country and surrender himself before the courts.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan provided complete evidence to the country’s apex court and was declared ‘Sadiq and Ameen (honest and righteous).
In his concluding remarks, Shehbaz said he did not want to initiate a “long debate” but former premier Nawaz was convicted on the basis of Iqama (residency permit) not the Panama scandal.
Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said, “Neither we should fall prey to contradictions of narratives nor pay attention to it.”
Addressing a party meeting in Multan, Maryam said that the PML-N achieved great success in the Cantonment board elections while every leader was facing oppression and tyranny on all sides. “The enemies and the incumbent government are well aware about the strength of the PML-N, but not the N League itself. So even today they have to cheat and steal votes to defeat us,” she added.
She also said that the PML-N is only future of Pakistan. “No party has a leader or a vote bank like us. Leaders of the other parties demand sacrifices from the workers. Our leader himself has sacrificed.”
“We should not fall prey to the contradiction of statements and should not pay attention to it. People are saying that they want to come back through rigging again but I will tell them that it will not be possible to steal votes again,” the PML-N vice president maintained.
Maryam Nawaz further said that there is a narrative of ‘Vote Ko Izzat Do’ (Give Respect to Vote) all over the country, adding that today every institution is fighting for its survival.
Claiming victory in the next general elections, she asked the party leaders to fight election with full strength and unity. “If we have not our own narrative, then there is no difference between us and other political parties, however, our narrative is only our identification,” she added.
