ISLAMABAD: PML-N president Nawaz Sharif has distanced his party two days right after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi detached himself from the anti-Ahmadi tirade by retired captain Mohammad Safdar in the National Assembly.
“I declare it in categorical and unequivocal terms that all minorities living in Pakistan enjoy complete fundamental rights, including protection to their lives and property, under the Constitution and Islamic teachings,” Mr. Sharif commented in a statement issued from London and released to the local media.
“Any negative expression in this regard has nothing to do with the ideology and policy of the PML-N,” Mr. Sharif cleared the air, without mentioning the speech of the party MNA – who happens to be his son-in-law.
During a television interview last week, Prime Minister Abbasi had claimed that neither he nor Nawaz Sharif or the PML-N was responsible for the anti-Ahmadiyya views expressed by Capt Safdar.
“We should stay away from such statements which create unrest in the society,” Mr. Abbasi stated while agreeing that carrying the honor of being Mr. Sharif’s son he should have behaved more responsibly.
Mr. Sharif in his statement also said that belief in the Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH as the last Messenger of Allah (Khatm-i-Nabuwwat) was a fundamental part of Islamic faith, which was also intrinsically construed as part of the Constitution.
The former prime minister mentioned that the matter had been settled once and for all and should not be politicised, keeping in view its very sensitive topic. He went on saying that the mistake in the Electoral Reforms Act, 2017, had already been rectified, and thanked all the political parties for their support in making it right.
Mr. Sharif did not forget to mention that the people had elected him prime minister thrice and during all his tenures he along with the PML-N had served the masses and protected their rights irrespective of any ethnic, racial and religious bias, ensuring the rights of the minorities.
“The Father of the Nation had guaranteed complete religious and social freedom for all the classes of the people, particularly the minorities, which was now a constitutional obligation and no-one could even imagine to deviate from it,” he said while pointing out that the PML-N had the honor of being known as the party of the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
MNA Capt Safdar’s outburst against the country’s minority Ahmadi community last week had drawn widespread criticism from almost all the political spheres and mainstream parties in Pakistan, including his own party, and the social circles.