Need to put house in order first for better Pakistan, says Nawaz

• Former premier responds to army’s ‘threats’ to media, saying ‘shutting down channels and hurling threats’ is a thing of the past
• Nawaz Sharif holds caretaker govt responsible for load shedding

ISLAMABAD: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said the situation in the country will improve once our “house is in order” as he repeated his demand for formation of a national commission to unearth the truth.

Nawaz Sharif was referring to a press conference held by Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor a day earlier, wherein he had pointed to growing negative propaganda on social media against Pakistan and its institutions, including the army.

Speaking to media outside an accountability court hearing corruption references filed against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following the Supreme Court’s (SC) judgement in the Panama Papers case, Nawaz said he watched parts of ISPR’s press conference and the part which showed Major General Ghafoor showing a chart showing certain individuals retweeting “anti-state” content.

“Shutting down channels and issuing threats to the media are now memories. We will form a national commission to take necessary steps if we come to power,” said the ousted premier.

Speaking about the Lahore High Court nullifying the nomination forms of electoral candidates, he remarked: “How is it possible a single-member bench to dismiss a law like that?”

To which, a journalist said that the verdict was suspended by the Supreme Court. “But that occurred afterwards,” said Nawaz in response.

Asked about the notice sent to NAB for a press release outlining alleged money laundering, Nawaz said the anti-graft watchdog had yet to respond to the notice.

Holding caretaker government responsible for load shedding, Nawaz claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government added 10,000 Megawatts (MW) in the system. “There was no load shedding when PML-N was in government,” he said while holding interim setup responsible for the power outages.