‘For Pakistan’s sake’: Nawaz says met Imran in 2013 with intent to cooperate

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif revealed Saturday that he met PTI founder Imran Khan after becoming prime minister in 2013 “to work together for the country’s sake.”

He told the party’s central working committee in Lahore that he visited PTI founder Imran Khan in Banigala as soon as he assumed power in 2013 to reach an agreement on working together.

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After they met, Nawaz claimed that Imran traveled to London, where a “plot was hatched” to instigate protests against the government he was in at the time.

The leader of the PML-N made reference to Imran Khan’s meeting, saying that he should have been informed about the situation or the PTI’s concerns.

“I come to visit you, and you stab me in the back by promising to help, and then you start protesting at D-Chowk in Islamabad?”

The leader of the PML-N asserted that, despite having the ability to do so through a coalition, his government had not obstructed the establishment of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the 2013 elections.

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Nawaz claimed he was leaving out a lot of information and that all he wanted to ask was how three people remove a prime minister who represents 250 million people.

He discussed his time as prime minister of Pakistan, saying that he still doesn’t understand why his government had been overthrown.

Sharif demanded that the judges who disqualified him from holding party and public office answer for their actions.

Additionally, he brought up former jurist Justice Shaukat Siddiqui and his criticism of retired army members, who gave the judge an order to punish him.

Nawaz stated that he wished to know if voters even consider the performance of their elected representatives before casting their ballots.

Addressing people of Pakistan, he asked: “Do you think what was the performance of Nawaz Sharif’s government and what was the performance of his political rivals?”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stepped down as the president of PML-N, stating that the “time has come” for his brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to “resume his rightful place” as the party president.

It may be noted Nawaz Sharif was removed as the party president in 2018 after a Supreme Court bench headed by then-chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar ruled that an individual disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution couldn’t serve as head of a political party.