Daily Times

SADIQABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif Wednesday said that his party was competing neither against Imran Khan nor Asif Ali Zardari, adding that PML-N is in a constant struggle against the ‘invisible forces’.

“I and PML-N are competing against neither Imran Khan nor Asif Zardari. Our competition is with the invisible forces. In this fight, the people of Sadiqabad are with me,” Nawaz told a PML-N rally in Sadiqabad. He declared that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was nothing in front of him, adding that he had no competition with Imran Khan.

The former premier then turned his guns towards Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman, saying, “Zardari sahib, Nawaz Sharif does not have a competition with you as well.”

Nawaz said both PTI and PPP don’t stand a chance against PML-N as the party is popular among the masses. He maintained that PTI is just fooling the nation with empty slogans of change as their performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is before the people of Pakistan.

The PML-N chief said the next 70 years in the country would not be like the past 70 years, recalling how democratically elected governments had been sent home in Pakistan’s history. “I served the people and rid the country of darkness and terrorism, we built motorways,” he said. “But I was disqualified only because of not receiving salary from my own son,” he added.

Calling 2018 general elections a referendum, he hoped that the next 70 years would be the years of Pakistan’s prosperity which would bring employment for the poor. He promised to issue health cards to poor people and said, “Home for everyone will be our manifesto.”

Nawaz said Pakistan could become the Asian tiger in the next 10 years. He said that Sadiqabad and south Punjab had also experienced the awakening. “I am very lucky for one does not get such respect from people easily.”

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz told the rally that her father and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was punished for being honest and demanding respect for vote. She said that the detractors tried their best to prove Nawaz Sharif corrupt but when they failed to even prove a minor charge of corruption, they deposed him on possessing a UAE iqama. “Nawaz Sharif developed Pakistan in all of his three terms but was punished for speaking for your rights, demanding respect for your vote,” she told a charged crowd.

Maryam urged the people of Sadiqabad to vote for the honest and genuine leadership and reject ‘pawns’ like Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in the upcoming general elections. “Do remember their (Zardari and Imran) faces, they disrespected your vote … promise me, you will make an example of them during 2018 elections,” Maryam demanded from the people.

Maryam said the political turncoats would not succeed this time around, hailing Khawaja Asif for his loyalty. “People hold Khawaja Asif in high esteem for he is a loyal person. The entire city turned up to welcome Asif after he was disqualified,” she said, adding the ones abandoning the party would meet such an end that they would think 10 times before jumping the ship again.

Reacting to Nawaz’s statement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that these individuals had been sucking the blood of Pakistani people. “Imran Khan told the people what actual democracy is,” he said, daring Nawaz to name the ones he had competition with, if had courage.

Published in Daily Times, May 3^rd 2018.