PML-N minister asks Shehbaz to take over reins of ruling party

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada on Thursday asked Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif to take over the reins of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), ARY News reported.

Senior leader of PML-N Riaz Hussain Pirzada also urged ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to step down as the party president as he was standing a court trial over corruption charges.

“It is crucial that we list right thing as right, if the ruling party wants to stay intact,” he said talking to media in Islamabad, while lashing out at the policies of the PML-N.

The PML-N recently brought electoral ‘reforms’ in a bid to pave way for Nawaz Sharif back into politics and voted Nawaz as their party head. Nawaz was disqualified by the Supreme Court in the Panama Leaks case verdict on July 28.

Pirzada wants Nawaz Sharif to step down as PML-N president and elect his brother Shehbaz Sharif on the post for he feels that the younger brother has right views about the state institutions.

Riaz Pirzada has also demanded to withdraw case registered by the Intelligence Bureau against ARY News anchor Arshad Sharif over showing ‘fake’ list of National Assembly members having links with banned outfits attributed to be released by the IB.

“If the report was false, then they should have just repudiated its genuinnes and asked Arshad to dismiss it,” he said.

Earlier, Pirzada said the alleged letter of IB was genuine and not forged.

ARY News’ anchor Arshad Sharif showed an alleged IB letter on his show’s September 25 and September 27episodes.

The anchor had alleged that former PM Nawaz Sharif had directed the IB on July 10 to keep watch on the listed legislators, mostly belonging to the PML-N. The list is said to have names of over 37 lawmakers suspected of having links with banned terrorist and sectarian outfits.