Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed reservations over PML-N’s decision to nominate incumbent Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif as the candidate to become prime minister on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said that “Shehbaz has a pending reference against him in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), what message would it convey to the country and the international community.

He also questioned the tradition of dynastic politics and asked why only a member of the Sharif family is being nominated for the high office and is there was no other individual within the PML-N suitable for the role.

“Have our political parties not reached the level of maturity that we can move past our families when it comes to nominating individuals for high posts?”

“We feel it would present problems if Shehbaz is selected prime minister. They have so many party members, is there no one else qualified for the position?”

The PTI vice chairman also said that the joint investigation report, submitted after the Model Town tragedy, should be made public by Shehbaz if he were to become prime minister as he was the chief minister at the time.

He also announced Dr Yasmeen Rashid as PTI’s candidate to contest the NA-120 seat, previously held by Nawaz Sharif.

“During our meeting today we discussed that NA-120 now stands vacated and we decided to nominate Dr Yasmeen Rashid as our candidate to contest the seat.”

Qureshi said that democracy has been strengthened after the Supreme Court (SC) verdict and it is not an international conspiracy as some PML-N leaders have claimed.

“Democracy has been strengthened following the verdict. It is not a conspiracy against democracy. From the start we have been with the Constitution and democracy.”

He added that the conspiracy theory being peddled by PML-N has no truth to it as even Beijing and Washington has termed it as an internal matter and have no reservations regarding it.

Referring to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s announcement that they will put forth a candidate for premiership of the country, Qureshi said that it would have been better if the PPP had reached out to opposition parties before making the call.

He further said that Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah had reached out to him on Friday and invited PTI to discuss future course of action.

“We discussed and said that the PPP should have taken all opposition parties in confidence before announcing that they will field a candidate for the role of prime minister.”

Qureshi also said that all opposition parties will be consulted in order to agree unanimously on a candidate that can take the role of premier and take the country forward.

“We will field a candidate who can be supported by all opposition parties. We will decide in a day or so,” said the PTI vice chairman.

The PTI stalwart on the occasion paid tribute to the judges and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) members for their role in the Panama Papers case.

Referring to PTI’s announcement for a public rally on Sunday, Qureshi invited all party workers and the people of the country and said that party chairman Imran Khan will announce a future course of action and take the people in confidence regarding PTI’s vision for the future of the country.