The leadership of Pakistan’s political parties is being passed on like sceptres from father to son like in a monarchy, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Saturday.
Khan said both the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had passed on the leadership of their parties from one family member to another, Geo News reported.
At a political rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the former cricketer was referring to the PPP’s first chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was succeeded by his wife Nusrat Bhutto and later by his daughter Benazir Bhutto.
After the assassination of Benazir in December 2007, the party was led by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who passed on the mantle to their 23-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Similarly, the PML-N is led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whose brother Shahbaz Sharif is a key party member and the chief minister of Punjab. Shahbaz Sharif’s son Hamza Shahbaz is also an important party leader as well as an MP and now Nawaz’s daughter Maryam Nawaz was also being launched in politics.
Khan said this was not democracy, as “the political parties are being run like dynasties”.
It’s monarchy in Pakistan, not democracy, says Imran
