KASUR: Without naming anyone but possibly referring to former prime minister Imran Khan, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique alleged that judges, state officials and the election commission hatched a conspiracy to impose a “dirty man” on the country.

He was addressing a PML-N workers convention on Friday at Khudian, some 25km from here, the hometown of PM’s special assistant Malik Ahmad Khan.

The minister said undemocratic practices broke the backbone of the country and a man, who “polished boots”, came to power.

Regarding Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s supposed plans to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, Mr Rafique said such a move was not the solution to pull the country out of crises, rather the PTI ought to return to parliament and serve the country. In the same breath, the PML-N leader said his party would face Mr Khan in the political arena if the assemblies were dissolved.

He further said the former premier’s “facilitators” had gone and their successors had become apolitical, and asked Mr Khan to come to the table for negotiations and save Pakistan.

He also claimed that during the era of the PML-N, the country was on the path of progress, political stability and democracy.

The minister also expressed grief over the lives lost in the APS Peshawar terrorist attack.

Separately addressing another party workers convention in the Chitti Khoi locality in his constituency of Sheikhupura district, PML-N’s federal minister Mian Javaid Latif said PTI chief Khan had dragged the country into a “quicksand of loans” and had he remained in power, the country would have defaulted.

He further said the PTI chief wanted to dissolve assemblies for his own benefits, putting the country on the wrong path. He advised Mr Khan to return to the assembly, engage in debates to find solutions to the hardships that Pakistan was facing instead of dissolving assemblies.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022