PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. - File Photo

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) received a serious setback in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday when its former general secretary Saranjam Khan resigned as the party's vice-president and member of the central executive committee.

'I resigned from the party offices in protest against the nomination of Rehmat Salam Khattak as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general secretary,' he said while talking to Dawn.

He said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had met him and promised to resolve the internal differences but had failed to keep his word.

Saranjam Khan walked out of a meeting of the party's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa council held at Nishtar Hall when election commissioner Iqbal Zafar Jhagra announced the names of new provincial office-bearers in the presence of Mr Sharif.

'I will not join any another party but we will form our own party after holding consultations at a meeting on Jan 4 in Mardan,' he said.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Sharif accused the government of keeping the nation in the dark about the Abbottabad operation, the memo scandal, attack on PNS Mehran and drone attacks.

He said he had gone to the Supreme Court because that was the last option left with him to expose what he termed the rulers' wrongdoings.

He accused the government of following pro America policies of former dictator Pervez Musharraf at the cost of national sovereignty, integrity and self-respect.

The PML-N chief said he had seen several incidents of serious nature, including the Kargil episode and East Pakistan debacle, whose inquiry had been held but the factual position was yet to be disclosed to the nation.

'How can we remain silent on scandals which relate directly to the future of the nation and the country,' he asked.

He said the government's policies regarding the war on terror had cost billions of dollars to the country but the rulers were busy lobbying for some more dollars through the Kerry Lugar Bill.

He alleged that none of the courts' decisions had been implemented so far and conspiracies had been hatched to weaken the judiciary.

He said the government was aware of drones flying from Balochistan but it criticised the attacks to deceive the people.

Mr Sharif claimed that the PML-N had always resisted the US pressure.

He said the entire country had suffered from the war on terror but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata were the worst affected. He said 35,000 innocent people had been killed in operations, bomb explosions and drone attacks.

He said the government had failed to frame policies to overcome the energy crisis, deteriorating economic conditions, price hike, unemployment and terrorism and the issues had become more complicated.

Recounting the policies of his two governments, he said: 'Nobody can prove a single case of embezzlement against me.' He said that despite being an elected prime minister he had been implicated in a 'baseless' hijacking case during Gen (retd) Musharraf's rule, kept in jail, forced to leave the country and barred from attending the funeral of his father.

Mr Sharif said Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan was not a Pakhtun.

He urged President Asif Ali Zardari to resign and announce fresh elections under an independent election commission.

The nation would not tolerate collapse of vital national institutions like the railways, PIA, Steel Mills and Wapda, he said.