Majority of PML-N members not standing by Nawaz's ‘anti-state’ narrative: Fawad

Minister says more lawmakers will soon show courage to reject Nawaz and Maryam's rhetoric against state institutions

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that majority of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members are not supporting their party's supreme leader Nawaz’s narrative of targeting state institutions.

“70 per cent of PML-N members are not standing by Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz's [narrative],” Fawad said while addressing a press conference in Karachi.

Nawaz broke his long silence during a Pakistan Peoples Party-hosted all-party conference (APC) on September 20, declaring that the opposition was not up against Prime Minister Imran Khan but those who had brought him into power in the 2018 elections.

The three-time premier accused the military establishment and other state institutions of meddling into the political affairs of the country and supporting PM Imran to come into power.

Giving an example of the disgruntled PML-N’s Punjab MPAs, Fawad expressed hope that soon more party lawmakers “will also show courage and reject the narrative of Nawaz Sharif”.

On Thursday, the PML-N expelled five of its Punjab Assembly MPAs – Ashraf Ansari, Jaleel Sharaqpuri, Faisal Niazi, Nishat Khan Daha and Moulvi Ghayasuddin. These lawmakers had met Punjab chief minister earlier this year sans the leadership’s permission.

He urged the PML-N leadership to refrain from targeting state institutions, saying that it is against the national interest.

Fawad also lamented that opposition parties including PPP and PML-N in a bid to halt accountability process and to save their ill-gotten assets have resorted to a new low by taking support of Madrassa [seminary] students to stage anti-government rallies.

He was referring to the opposition’s parties’ decision to appoint JUI-F chief Mualana Fazlur Rehman to lead the new political alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) against the PTI government.

Commenting on the PDM, the federal minister said the movement’s only objective is to spread chaos in the country and added that it is bound to fail like their previous attempts to oust the PTI-led government.

#Live: Federal Minister for Science & Technology @fawadchaudhry addressing a press conference in #Karachi https://t.co/X07o5HNH4w

— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) October 4, 2020