LAHORE: The Sharifs continue with their damage control measures to offset the [negative] impact created by Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s press conference the other day in which she took a different line than what PML-N president and her uncle Shahbaz Sharif had taken vis-à-vis a national charter on economy.

“The PML-N belongs to both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and party decisions are made jointly by the duo,” party’s vice president Hamza Shahbaz said at a press conference here on Monday.

Rejecting the rumours of any differences within the family and the party, he said attempts to create rifts among the two brothers had been made during the dictatorial regime of Gen Musharraf but all these bids remained abortive as the party remained united [then] and is united now.

Referring to Maryam Nawaz’s stance that charter of economy would be in fact mockery of economy against Shahbaz Sharif’s offer for such an agreement, he said the party president had made the offer soon after the PTI came into power while Maryam Nawaz has also explained her stance over the matter.

Rejects rumours about differences within family, party

Indirectly supporting Maryam’s stance, he said the incumbent rulers had made the charter of economy a swear word. He said the economy has reached a point of no return but lamented that all were playing the role of silent spectators on the phenomenon.

He said the PTI government did not fulfil even a single promise it made with the masses and said had it showed performance even half to that of the PML-N regime, people would have accepted Imran Khan as a leader.

He said Pakistani rupee had shed its value even against the Nepalese currency as the US dollar touched its highest worth in the history of the country.

About the ban on use of the word ‘selected’ in the National Assembly, the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly said, “Imran Khan is a selected prime minister and he should plug his ears if he does not want to listen this word.”

He said Imran Khan has been tagged as the selected one and the tag could not be removed now.

Hamza also criticised the ongoing accountability process and termed it biased against the opposition. He recalled that a federal minister recently stated that it were they (the PTI government) conducting the accountability and not the NAB (National Accountability Bureau).

Facing NAB investigations in assets beyond means and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases, he said prisons were not a new thing for political workers as he had served his time in jail during the Musharraf regime.

Referring to the price hike that would follow after the government introduced higher tariffs on gas and power, he cautioned the government to be ready to face the wrath of the public.

He said textile millers were worried that their products were not finding markets abroad, farmers were also crying hoarse over the PTI’s policies as the economic figures released by state institutions show that investment ratio declined sharply during the last 10 months.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2019