PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday described the dethroning of former Balochistan chief minister Sanaullah Zehri as "a joke with democracy" and vowed to unearth the motives behind the "conspiracy".

"It is beyond perception as to why a member of a minority party who secured just a few hundred votes was made the chief minister," Sharif was quoted as saying during an advisory meeting on Balochistan. He was referring to new Balochistan CM Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, who replaced Zehri last week.

"I have convened a meeting to probe the matter," Sharif said.

"Dethroning a chief minister of a majority party in an engineered manner to bring forth a person whose guarantee money was nearly confiscated is a joke with the nation and democracy," Sharif said.

"The Balochistan issue is a serious one and it should be taken seriously. We shall deliberate on the situation at the party level."

Sharif also warned that machinations against his party in Balochistan could threaten the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

"CPEC can change the fortunes of Balochistan and the Baloch people, but political anarchy carries the threat of damaging this project," he warned.

When asked about proceedings against him in the National Accountability Bureau court, Sharif said: "the media and the nation are witnesses that the case carries no weight or concrete evidence."

"I fail to understand what is actually the case against me," he added.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...