Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday said that it will be a positive development if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) distances itself from the Sharif family.

The PML-N, he said in a tweet, “If distances itself from the Sharif family it would be a positive development.” “Political parties need to change their leadership as they (parties) are suffering from their (leaders’) moral and financial corruption,” he said. “It is necessary for political parties to change a leadership which suffers from moral and financial corruption,” Fawad said in a tweet.

The minister said that the government was sincere in holding dialogue with the opposition to reform electoral, judicial and accountability system of the country. He said, however, reforms were not possible without opposition’s cooperation but corrupt leadership of PML-N and PPP did not want to discuss any issue other than relief in their court cases.

The minister said that Nawaz Sharif left the party workers alone in every difficult time and took refuge in London and such a leader enjoyed no respect.

The minister’s tweets came a day after he claimed that four of PML-N’s top leaders told ‘someone’ that they should be considered to replace Nawaz.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the minister said that PML-N’s top four leaders met ‘someone’ and said that the party supremo did wrong to the country and they should be considered instead. “PML-N’s four top leaders met someone and told him that Nawaz Sharif did great wrong to the country [so] why don’t they consider them,” the federal minister said, adding that an interesting race was going on within the opposition party. “You all know them as they sit in the front row of the party,” smirked Chaudhry when asked to name the four leaders during his interaction with the media at Lahore Press Club on Sunday.

However, prime minister’s aide on political communication Shahbaz Gill during his presser in Faisalabad alleged that leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif had “asked for a deal for four people”, according to a private TV channel. Special consideration had been sought for Nawaz Sharif, his daughter, Shehbaz and his son, Gill alleged, adding that the request was made for the latter three individuals to be allowed to flee the country whereas “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will stay”.

Also, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed earlier talking to the media in Rawalpindi denounced the impression of any deal with the opposition party. He said the PML-N had false hopes for some kind of ‘deal’ but he would like to make it clear that this time their leaders would get neither deal nor dheel (any leniency) in accountability. Failure was the destiny of PML-N policies, he said, adding that he could see ‘all the four Sharifs’ would have no role in national politics.