News Analysis |
Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has once again clarified that his government is not going to sign any deal with the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He was reportedly speaking to a select group of journalists at the Prime Minister Office when he asked “under which law we can send Nawaz Sharif abroad even if he is granted bail on medical grounds? We have launched a movement to uproot the system for the elites.
The opposition wants separate systems for the elite and the poor. We will not allow this to happen. Justice will be one for all and rule of law will prevail,” the prime minister said, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was using Nawaz’s health as a tool to blackmail the government.
The opposition is uniting against Imran Khan’s incompetence and the anti-people mindset,” Marriyum said. She was referring to the recent alliance between the PPP and PML-N.
Moreover, he criticized the former premier for failing to build even a single hospital in 30 years where he could be treated. “The Sharifs had been in power for three decades but they could not build a single hospital for the people whereas they had built 30 factories out of one for themselves,” he said.
While commenting on the unity between mainstream opposition parties PM Khan termed the alliance between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N as “an alliance to save looted money”. He lashed out at the joint opposition for protesting in the parliament in order to “blackmail the government into granting them amnesty through a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)”.
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Speaking about the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the premier stated that the organization is independent of the government and noted that all corruption cases being pursued against leaders of other political parties are ‘old’. He urged NAB to grab the big fishes instead of low-category criminals involved in corruption.
PML-N’s Reactions
Marriyum Aurangzeb, spokesperson of PML-N, responded to the PM and said on Monday that Prime Minister Imran Khan could not fool the masses through false rhetoric of an NRO “Imran Khan should tell the nation that you have given an NRO to Aleema Khan and Jahangir Tareen,” she said in her statement.
Prime Minister Khan had said during his maiden speech to the nation that whenever powerful and corrupt people will be brought before the law there will be propaganda against the government.
The PML-N spokesperson said Khan was doing politics in the name of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif for the past five years and the prime minister was still scared of them. “The opposition is uniting against Imran Khan’s incompetence and the anti-people mindset,” Marriyum said. She was referring to the recent alliance between the PPP and PML-N.
It is important to mention here that recently PM Imran Khan claimed that he was approached by Sharifs to sign a deal to give them some relief. The proposal, according to Mr. Khan, was rejected by him. Prime Minister Khan had said during his maiden speech to the nation that whenever powerful and corrupt people will be brought before the law there will be propaganda against the government.
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A narrative will also be established as if the democracy was under threat, he added. Similar observations have been made by the information Minister on Tuesday. He maintained that the government is facing and will face more challenges by the political opponents for allowing the NAB to independently conduct inquiries into financial matters of those who have been holding the public offices.
PM Khan repeated his stance in his address to the nation on October 24th, saying that the corrupt leaders in the country are seeking for an NRO which is only a daydream. “I want to give them a message: ‘open your ears and hear this: you can come out on the streets. We will give you containers and give you food. You can do whatever you want in the assemblies… [But] no one will get an NRO’.”
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Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, PPP co-chairman, is indirectly threatening the government of a tough and more aggressive opposition if it does not offer an NRO or a deal to the corrupt politicians in the country. Since the NAB is working independently, it is threatening the system developed by such ‘criminals’. The government has, on the other hand, made it clear that there is zero tolerance on the matters related to corruption and misuse of authority.