Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif has denied allegations of lending any form of support to Reham Khan for her upcoming book. In his interview to a private TV channel, Shahbaz said: "I am neither behind Reham's book nor gave her a single penny for it directly or indirectly. Imran Khan has alleged that I am behind Reham's book but I give no value to his allegations."
Shahbaz further said: "I only met her (Reham) once when she interviewed me during the 2014 sit-ins." About the allegations leveled against him by the PTI chairman, Shahbaz said: "Khan Sahib said I gave Rs27 billion to Reham for the book through an alleged front man Javed Sadiq. The second allegation he has leveled against me is that I offered him Rs10 billion to stay mum on the Panama Papers case. Imran's third allegation against me is that I took Rs1-2 billion in commission in Multan Metro Bus project through partnership with a Chinese company."
Shahbaz said he sent notices to Imran following each allegation. "However, he (Imran) never replied to me after which I even went to court and neither he nor his counsel ever appeared for any of the cases."
In another interview, Shahbaz underlined the need for national dialogue to evolve a new social contract for meeting the challenges being faced by the country. "I am ready to open this dialogue for a new social contract. Our country needs such a dialogue.
Let us forget and forgive and move forward failing which coming generation will not forgive us," he said, adding: "If this country has to move forward, it can only be through a consultation process and not the confrontation. Confrontation is not an option as it will further indulge us in internal issues. We are facing numerous challenges that need collective approach."
Answering a question about his notion of national government, he said, he did not mean a national government; if a hung parliament emerges after general election.
"What I mean is, if our party gains simple majority to form the government, I shall take other parties along to evolve national consensus on important issues."
He said: "If this country has to prosper, then we shall have to move forward with consensus. We have to unite on major issues and so should be our narrative as this is the only way out to address our issues."