Nawaz Sharif's 'well wishers' have landed him in jail, says Chaudhry Nisar

Former interior minister says he had advised the PML-N supremo to avoid confrontation with state institutions

[fbvideo link="https://www.facebook.com/etribune/videos/2425780570772288/"][/fbvideo]

Disgruntled PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that he had advised the party supremo Nawaz Sharif to avoid confrontation with national institutions but in vain.

Nawaz and his daughter Maryam were sent behind bars last week after being sentenced by the National Accountability Court (NAB) court in the Avenfield case.

"I've been by his [Nawaz's] side for the last 34 years and I had advised him not to go after the judiciary and the armed forces," Nisar said while addressing a public gathering in Islamabad.

He, however, said that his counsel fell on deaf ears as certain quarters told the PML-N supremo that the best plan of action was to move towards confrontation.



"Look where that policy has landed him now," Nisar said while pointing at the jail term of the former prime minister.

Nisar revealed that the PML-N leadership had advised him to furnish an application for a party ticket, but that he refused and decided to contest elections as an independent candidate.

Stressing that Pakistan was at a critical juncture, the former interior minister said, "we can only get through this testing time by all of us joining hands for the betterment of the country".

"Honestly I don't see this happening before or even after the general elections," he maintained. "Every political leader has the eye on the prize of becoming the country's prime minister".

"We can draw parallels back to 1971 when our leadership failed to take the nation into confidence," Nisar said, adding that "the country was also divided before the elections then, leading to the seismic loss of East Pakistan."