Saad says talks to woo Nisar have failed

LAHORE: Talks with former federal minister for interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were making progress before they failed, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Friday.

Nawaz Sharif and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif reportedly held opposing views pertaining to the issuance of party ticket to Nisar.

Rafique took to social media and said, “We did not want the talks to fail but this is how it is now.”

Nisar had earlier filed nomination papers from several constituencies including PP-12, PP-10, NA-59 and NA-63.

Earlier on June 11, disgruntled party leader Nisar announced that he would contest the general election 2018 as an independent candidate.

“The party [PML-N] had given tickets to political orphans,” Nisar said, adding, “There are 10 faults in the PTI but 100 [faults] in the PML-N.”

He said that it is time for him to work even harder, as he would be contesting the election as an independent candidate.

The PML-N stalwart used the occasion to target his party’s leadership, saying: “These Sharifs will not able to show their faces anywhere if I decide to open my mouth.”

He suggested that he had been keeping mum on matters he did not disclose because of his 34-year association with the Sharif brothers.

“An opponent of Aurat Raj (Women’s Rule) has imposed his daughter on the party,” he said, in an apparent reference to PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz. Asked by party workers whether he was considering joining the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Nisar opted for a vague response: “You focus on the elections, [I] will decide what is better.”

“I neither expect their [PML-N] ticket nor do I need it,” he said.

Political aides of Chaudhry Nisar earlier filed the nomination papers for constituencies NA-63, NA-59, PP-10 and PP-12.

On Sunday, the former interior minister alleged that a ‘comical drama’ was being staged by PML-N leadership to not issue him party tickets for the forthcoming polls.

Party leader Nawaz Sharif and ex-Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif were reported to be at loggerheads regarding issuing a party ticket to Nisar.

The veteran politician added: “Has there been any precedence where senior party members who have been elected multiple times appear before the board to give an interview for the party ticket.