File photo. Rizwan Tabassum—AFP
In interview, PMLN president accuses PTI of ‘wanting’ a clash with the Constitution and law
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), on Wednesday suggested forming a national government comprising all the country’s political forces—barring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf currently in power.
“The national government—sans PTI—should be formed for the next five years,” he told journalist Hamid Mir during an interview with private broadcaster Geo News. Claiming this was his own idea, Sharif said the new leadership that emerges in that scenario should work toward establishing benchmarks that serve the national interest. “And then we can see what happens,” he added.
In the lead-up to the National Assembly taking up the opposition’s no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister Imran Khan, both the opposition and the government have announced plans to stage “massive” rallies in Islamabad. The PTI is set to hold court at the D-Chowk in the federal capital on March 27, while the opposition would commence its long march on Islamabad after March 25 to allow for the completion of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) session.
On the PTI’s plans for a rally on March 27, the opposition leader noted that government ministers were warning lawmakers against voting in favor of the no-confidence motion with threats to their safety. “They [government] are warning them of violence, but we do not plan on resorting to violence. They want to clash with the constitution and the law,” he said, adding that the government’s actions in recent weeks suggested they were threatening democracy in Pakistan. “We will bring people to avoid this,” he said of the opposition’s long march.
To a question on the government’s claims of the opposition indulging in “horse-trading” by buying votes ahead of the no-confidence motion, the PMLN leader pointed to the much-publicized manner in which several lawmakers were ferried to Islamabad in Jahangir Khan Tareen’s private aircraft in 2018 to help the PTI form the government. When politicians were “being loaded on to a private aircraft, then what was that all about,” he said.
Sharif said that if any of the allegations of horse-trading were proven true, he would personally apologize to the nation and step down from office. “If horse-trading takes place, then I will be responsible for it,” he added.
To another question, the opposition leader said it was time to stop referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan as an “honest” man, adding that if the premier had recovered the $2 billion he claimed were parked abroad, then he might have some claim to have served the nation. “Records of dacoity have been broken in Pakistan,” he claimed. “The government bought oil at the most expensive rates, but it could not buy cheap gas,” he said, of the government’s repeated failures to secure LNG supplies, leading to an energy shortfall for two consecutive years.