LAHORE: PML-N senior leader Ahsan Iqbal has reminded the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government of its own stance on the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Faizabad (Islamabad) sit-in in November 2017, saying what goes around comes around.

“What goes around comes around. How some elements try to take political advantage in every situation,” former interior minister Iqbal tweeted and tagged the statement of Imran Khan in which he had demanded resignation from then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and interior minister (Iqbal) for mishandling the situation during operation against the TLP to disperse them on the issue of Khatam-i-Nabuwat.

Mr Iqbal had suffered a bullet injury in May last in an apparent assassination attempt in a pre-election rally in Narowal by a TLP activist Abid Hussain who was later handed down a 30-year imprisonment. Hussain said in his statement that he targeted Mr Iqbal over the issue of Khatam-i-Nubawat.

PML-N leader reminds Imran of his stance on TLP’s Faizabad sit-in

Ahsan Iqbal also said: “PML-N believes Khatam-e-Nabuwat is an incontestable article of our faith, however the party supporters are advised to be careful in making comments on social media as a lot of material being spread is based on misinformation, and don’t share any material which is anti-state.”

The TLP workers were also allegedly involved in throwing a shoe and ink at former premier Nawaz Sharif and ex-foreign minister Khwaja Asif during the PML-N government on the issue.

PML-N president and opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif was also critical of the PTI saying [that] the way Imran Khan’s party used the [past] sit-ins to stoke religious sentiments for its political gains the PML-N would not follow suit.

“Sanctity of the state institutions should not be undermined. The country’s survival is dependent on supremacy of the Constitution,” he tweeted.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said: “Imran Khan is today reaping what he had sown.”

Khwaja Asif also held Imran Khan responsible for the current situation in the country. “Imran Khan had sown the seeds of hatred, discord and violence. Today the whole nation is reaping its fruit. We do not know how many generations will have to pay the price for this,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2018