TAXILA: Estranged PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan urged people not to vote for PML-N candidates as that would lead to their votes going to waste.

Addressing an election campaign rally in Taxila Cantonment on Thursday, the former interior minister said: “I am saying this clearly. Nothing will come of [PML-N candidates], not before the elections and not after”.

He said the political careers of PML-N candidates were over and that they should vote for the jeep instead of the lion or bat.

“We can only get through this [critical juncture] by joining hands for the betterment of the country. But I do not see that happening before or after the general elections. Every political leader has their eye on the prize of becoming the country’s prime minister,” he said.

Mr Nisar drew parallels with 1971 when, he said, the leaders failed in taking the nation into confidence.

“The country was also divided before the elections then, leading to the loss of East Pakistan,” he said.

Chaudhry Nisar said 14 of the people who had formed PML-N had left Nawaz Sharif and that the former premier had gotten into trouble due to his mistakes.

“I have been by his side for 34 years and I advised him not to go after the judiciary and armed forces,” Nisar said, adding that his counsel fell on deaf ears as certain people told Nawaz that the best step will be confrontation.

“Look where that policy has landed him now,” Mr Nisar said.

He added that the party leadership had advised him to furnish an application for a party ticket but he had refused and decided to contest the elections independently.

He said his performance is well known and that he has worked tirelessly for the development of the area. He said he has always practiced politics with self-respect and with his head held high.

The former interior minister vowed to solve the issued being faced by labourers of the heavy industries after the elections.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018