LAHORE: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif says he must not be singled out for failing to have a cordial working relationship with the establishment as all the past prime ministers had faced a similar situation.

He was talking to the Faisalabad division leadership of the party here through a video link from London on Thursday.

Mr Sharif said the Quaid-i-Azam was the only lucky leader spared by the establishment; otherwise, all others met a miserable destiny as no prime minister went home gracefully. He said he loved the armed forces and had no reason to oppose them [provided the forces didn’t intervene in politics] as he insisted only on giving respect to the elected prime ministers.

In a reference to retired Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa’s pizza business worth billions of rupees, he repeated his demand for seeking money trail from the retired army officer for how a salaried person had amassed such huge assets.

Nawaz also criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan, alleging that the latter had secured two plots of land from him (when the former was the prime minister) as well as from ex-military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq. He said Imran might have got a plot from Gen Musharraf in return for supporting the latter’s so-called referendum [in 2002].

He said that former chief justice Saqib Nisar had ousted him from power on the basis of holding Iqama (work permit for the Gulf states), while regularising [illegally built] Bani Gala house of Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2021