Sharif attacks Imran, Zardari after Senate poll setback

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday lambasted Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) over Monday’s Senate election that saw their candidates grab the top seats of the Upper House of the Parliament, dealing a major blow to the ruling party.    

Addressing the PML-N General Council after election of Shahbaz Sharif as permanent president of the party, Sharif said his party’s government worked day in day out to free the country from the shackles of load-shedding and terrorism.

In an apparent reference to Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s remarks about the Punjab government having done nothing to provide people with essentials in its decade-long stint, Sharif said the work his younger brother had done in the past ten years was never done in 70 years.

He said the PML-N government navigated the country out of darkness after coming into power in 2013.

Sharif said his government initiated multiple projects and laid out the network of motorways. He said his party’s manifesto would be based on the slogan ‘Respect Vote’ and ‘Respect Mandate.’

The PML-N supreme leader asked the people to turn the upcoming general elections into a referendum on treatment he was meted out.

He affirmed that he didn’t have any personal agenda, but wanted to see the nation move forward, adding his agenda was the development of Pakistan.

Reacting to Monday’s Senate election, Sharif said the people who would talk big that they would make new Pakistan saw themselves and others bowing before the powers-that-be.

“Who are they. What are their services to the country. They all are just puppets playing to the tunes of others,” the PML-N leader said.

“You have lost even if you won,” Sharif said and added the nation knew them, labeling them as hypocrites. “Your deeds and words are poles apart.”