Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday asked what would happen to the country and the people when a provincial police chief could be kidnapped.

Listing the move as an unconstitutional act, he said the personnel of a federal agency besieged the house of the Sindh IGP, adding that there was a clash between the federal government and the provinces.

The former prime minister noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan and other government members haven’t uttered a word over the unrest in Sindh Police. The only focus of PM Imran was to target the political rivals, he remarked while expressing his support to the Sindh Police and the government.

Abbasi was talking to media persons after a meeting of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders in Islamabad, which discussed various issues with a special focus on the alarming situation developing in Sindh after the registration of a case against and arrest of PML-N leader Capt (r) Safdar.

He said the prime minister had no idea of the economy and the great hardships faced by the people, as Imran was only focused on knowing what was on the menu for Shehbaz Sharif – the jailed PML-N president who was earlier taken into National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody.

The PML-N leader accused the prime minister of “resorting to any means possible to torture his political opponents”.

Speaking on the occasion, another former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said it seemed as if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was trying to create an uncertain situation as part of some plan.

“The federal government, under a planned conspiracy, seeks to spread chaos in the country,” he alleged, adding that that the prime minister had become irked after witnessing the scale of the gathering at the Pakistan Democratic Movement rally.

“The prime minister should have come forward and laid down the facts before the nation. He should have spoken to Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah,” the PPP leader adding, alleging that the premier had gone into hiding.

The police in a province are protesting and the country’s prime minister is silent, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader said, adding that the people were angry over the entire episode.

Addressing the prime minister, Pervaiz said, “The army is not yours. It is our army too. It is the entire country’s army.”

The PPP leader also warned PM Imran to think carefully before speaking, adding that he had also been prime minister.

Earlier in the day, PPP Information Secretary Nafisa Shah, talking about the arrest of Safdar, said the selected had panicked and the PPP knew that they would do something.

She again expressed her regret over the arrest and said the Sindh Police proved that they were not a political entity. Calling for justice after the Karachi incident, Nafisa said the PDM’s narrative was getting stronger with each passing day.

Meanwhile, the PDM meeting, among other topics, also deliberated upon the islands issue after the Centre introduced an ordinance to claim its authority over the land.