LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says the government will not allow the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to convert Azadi March into “destruction march”.

He said it’s unbelievable that any patriotic Pakistani could say “traders should not pay tax, people not pay bills and overseas Pakistanis stop sending foreign exchange.” He appealed to Imran Khan not to exact revenge of failure of his sit-in from Pakistan.

Know more: Imran launches 'don't pay taxes' movement

The chief minister, who was speaking to PML-N MPs here on Tuesday, said those who were demanding resignation (of the prime minister) were now talking about resigning themselves. He said an attempt was being made to play with the future of the country by making women and children a shield.

Shahbaz thanked traders, industrialists and the whole nation for rejecting the civil disobedience call and said no patriotic citizen supported it. He said after the demand for technocrats’ government, the call for civil disobedience divided the PTI itself.

It’s unfortunate, he said, that a Pakistani had declared Gandhi his leader instead of the Quaid-i-Azam, a reference to Imran Khan’s statement on a TV channel.

Wattoo: PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo has appealed to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek to listen to the political leadership of the country and create space for a mutually agreed formula to break the deadlock for the sake of democracy.

“There is no doubt that the government failed to read the gravity of the situation in time and engage the leadership of both parties,” Wattoo said here on Tuesday.

He said the bigger responsibility rested on the government’s shoulders to take appropriate steps like accepting the demands of the PTI urgently to save the country from plunging into anarchy.

He recalled the PML-N had also entered the red zone in Islamabad and ransacked the Supreme Court.

Wattoo further said the army was fighting a war for the survival of the country. Political parties should shun their differences for the time being and support the armed forces’ operation in North Waziristan. Terrorism posed the biggest threat to the security and independence of the people of the country, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014