ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ministers and leaders labelled Pakistan Awami Tehreek-led protest of opposition parties on The Mall in Lahore on Wednesday a “flop power show” and “a political circus”, and affirmed that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was still the most popular leader of the country.
Taking on the opposition parties, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said the PPP instead of talking about the martyrs of the Model Town incident should account for the martyrs of the Liaqat Bagh incident.
Coming down hard on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Asif said the two parties colluded just to gain power. The PPP had, said the minister, squandered $ 15 million of the nation for establishing a committee at the UNO for probing the Liaquat Bagh incident. To a question, he said the next elections would be held on time and that the democratic system would continue.
Speaking to the state-run news channel, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said the collusion of the PTI and PPP could not affect or diminish the popularity of the ruling PML-N among the masses. He said the two parties had been exposed before the public after their participation in the sit-in, launched by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek.
Commenting on Tahir-ul-Qadri’s sit-in, Talal further said that the “three political cousins” were making efforts to come into power, but they would fail in completing their design for the 2018 elections.
All the political parties, including PPP and PTI, could not compete with the PML-N due to its performance and development works, he said.
He urged the PAT chief to seek justice from the judiciary in the Model Town case, as it was under trial. Talal Chaudhry also said that political parties were using the Model Town issue for their personal interests and political point-scoring.
Replying to a question, he warned that an action would be taken against the participants of the sit-in for violating the law and the constitution.
Taking on the joint protest, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb scoffed at the number of attendants present in the joint opposition’s public gathering and claimed that a councillor of the PML-N could have gathered more people in the rally.
Talking to media persons in Islamabad, the minister said that those who were politicising the Model Town incident had received a reply from the nation today.
She said that there is no place for those practicing the politics of empty rhetoric in the country, and also termed the rally as a union of political cousins.
She challenged the opponents to disclose the name of even one project that has been completed in their province.
The minister warned the political rivals that this political fixture wouldn’t work any longer. She also stressed on state institutions to follow the constitutional jurisdiction.
Expressing similar views, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhry added that it was regrettable that the PPP, PTI and PAT were doing politics on dead bodies in the country.
Talking to a private news channel, he said that the opponents of the PML-N government could not compete with it in the political field because the ruling party had delivered to the masses within the last four and a half years.
He said that rejected elements were joining each other against the PML-N to defame its leadership, but they would not succeed because Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was still the most popular political leader in the country.
The rejected parties had held a political circus in Lahore and they had only one objective which was to come to power at any cost, he added.
