News Analysis |
Ousted Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has advised the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) not to compromise on their ideology of ‘honoring the vote’. He was addressing a gathering of party leaders in Rawalpindi when he requested PML-N leaders to stay firm on the ideology of “vote ko izzat do” and to defeat all challenges and tribulations being faced by the party.
PML-N has been recently facing some critical moments as the former head of the party has not only been disqualified from his seat of MNA but also banned from holding any public office for life. The Islamabad High Court has also disqualified Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif because of his ‘lack of honesty’.
Nawaz’s madness while verbally attacking court signifies his political wisdom that is to pretend to be a political victim once again in Pakistan for his ‘progressive and democratic’ principles.
“We should no longer compromise at all on ‘honoring the vote’ [vote ko izzat do].” After his disqualification from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the former prime minister decided to develop a fresh contact with the masses to seek political support. These days Nawaz Sharif is propagating his new slogan: “vote ko izzat do”.
Read more: Nawaz Sharif takes a jab at Imran Khan and PTI
“Vote ko izzat do,” is primarily a message to the establishment and superior judiciary that do not try to subordinate people’s representatives. Nawaz Sharif, who believes that the court must not have disqualified him, nor he should have been declared ‘dishonest’, is rallying against the courts to prove his version of reality.
Nawaz comments on defections of PML-N leaders:
Nawaz Sharif also talked about the lawmakers and politicians who had recently left the party and joined some other parties. “They were never ours [to begin with],” Nawaz stated. It is worth mentioning here that 8 PML-N lawmakers from South Punjab who broke rank to demand new province for south Punjab on April 9, 2018. Khusro Bakhtiar, a senior PML-N leader from South Punjab, held the press conference along with other lawmakers and stated that “we have a single point agenda: the creation of a new province in south Punjab.” He further maintained that “the size of South Punjab is almost the same as Khyber Pashtunkhawa. We have 46 MNAs in the [National] Assembly at the moment and yet they gave us just one seat in Senate.”
These lawmakers found an opportunity within the existing sociopolitical dynamics and made the demand. This is, however, not quite pleasant for the PML-N that has already been in troubled waters.
Nawaz Sharif instead of responding to the demands of these lawmakers decided to disown them. South Punjab has largely been an ignored part of Punjab. Despite the fact that all parties have leaders from south Punjab, there has been no progress and development in the region.
Nawaz Sharif demands answers:
Former Prime Minister also talked about his family background and the foundation of the business laid down by his late father. Nawaz said that their factories were nationalized in 1972 in the aftermath of the India-Pakistan war in 1971. His father also decided to set up a steel mill in Dubai.
He was addressing a gathering of party leaders in Rawalpindi when he requested PML-N leaders to stay firm on the ideology of “vote ko izzat do” and to defeat all challenges and tribulations being faced by the party.
Nawaz said that his family was being unfairly questioned for things they never did. But he warned the courts and establishment that before you move on, “you should answer us first, for not giving us even a penny after nationalization… was it not our right?”
Read more: Is Nawaz Sharif threatening to become the next Mujibur Rahman?
He also criticized the role of some hidden hands in Pakistan’s political process and asked why has no prime minister ever been able to complete his/her tenure in the country?
The wisdom behind Nawaz’s madness:
Nawaz Sharif has consistently been making anti-judiciary and anti-establishment remarks since his disqualification by the Supreme Court in Panama game case last year. Nawaz Sharif is repeatedly making these comments to increase the political temperature in Pakistan and get sympathy to ensure maximum public support. Nawaz’s madness while verbally attacking court signifies his political wisdom that is to pretend to be a political victim once again in Pakistan for his ‘progressive and democratic’ principles.