Nawaz launches fresh salvo at ‘establishment’ in Swat power show

Ousted premier Nawaz Sharif has launched a fresh attack on the security establishment and once again blamed the army and ISI chiefs for allegedly plotting his ouster from the power in 2018.

“I cannot blame the entire army for the lawlessness of a few individuals,” he said while addressing via video link his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) latest power show in Swat on Friday.

Nawaz Sharif, the former premier who has been convicted of financial corruption and sentenced to seven years in jail, openly blames the military brass for his ignominious ouster from power.

The PML-N supremo has been receiving medical treatment for his controversial ailment in London Since last year.

Addressing recent rallies of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – an 11-party opposition alliance formed to send Imran Khan’s government packing – the three-time prime minister of the country had accused the security establishment of orchestrating his ouster. In Gujranwala, Nawaz had for the first time named the army chief and DG ISI, saying that there was "a state above the state" in the country.

“My only crime is to talk about the rights of common man, constitution and democratic principles,” Nawaz said in today’s address. He reiterated that his fight was not against Prime Minister Imran Khan but those “who brought him to power”.

Commenting on an inquiry report of ‘Karachi incident’ issued by the military earlier this week, the PML-N Quaid once again rejected and condemned the ISPR press release, saying the “fabricated story” had raised more questions rather than addressing the issue.

Questioning absence of officials’ names from the report, Nawaz said why only politicians are labelled as “traitors and thieves” in this country.

Meanwhile, his daughter Maryam continued her rhetoric against the incumbent government and said it was a “wall of sand that needs one final push”.

Addressing the rally earlier, she urged the country’s institutions to withdraw their support of the PTI government.

"I am telling the institutions of this country to withdraw their support of this incompetent government. We do not want a clash with any institution," she said.

Maryam reiterated that the only way for the country to prosper was to have "free and fair elections" and urged the people to vote for her party as it would "bring the same prosperity to K-P as it did to Punjab".

"If the mandate of the people is not respected then there would be inflation, there would be a price hike for commodities and there would be lawlessness," Maryam added.

Referring to her husband Captain (retd) Safdar Awan’s earlier arrest in Karachi, Maryam said that she would have resigned had she been the head of the state for what happened that day.