Nomination of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for prime minister in the next general elections is a unanimous decision by the party, former information minister Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said on Saturday.
“The decision to choose Shehbaz as PML-N’s prime ministerial candidate is our party’s unanimous decision,” the former minister said in an interview with a private news channel.
Pervaiz Rasheed denied that he was used as a scapegoat in response to a question about his ouster as the information minister.
“Nawaz Sharif had to take the decision under duress,” he said. “I know Nawaz was not responsible for my ouster.”
“I can say something here but it will start a new debate, and I don’t intend to do so,” Rasheed said when the host insisted that he disclose who had pressured Nawaz for the ouster.
Discussing the recent downturn in Pak-US ties, Rasheed said that it was time to make tactful decisions.
“Now is the time to deal with tact and not make emotional decisions,” he said.
Rasheed alleged that former president Pervez Musharraf was responsible for inviting war to “this region”.
“US accusations are a result of strategies Pakistan adopted in the past,” he said.
The former information minister also blamed a lack of power granted to the prime minister to set matters straight with the US.
“National unity and a strong prime minister were needed to bring Pakistan out of the swamp that we are in today,” he said. “Unfortunately, we had neither.”
In response to a question from the host about a possible deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Rasheed said people should be ashamed to make such accusations.
“People who are alleging the Sharif’s made a deal should feel ashamed,” he said. “They were invited to the country, because not only Pakistan has very close ties with the Kingdom, but also because the Sharif family has personal relations with the ruling Saudi family,” he added.
