‘Mind your language’, opp leaders tell PM

Shehbaz, Fazl lash out at Imran for calling them ‘boot shiner’, ‘diesel’

ISLAMABAD:

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning him to mind his language “otherwise they know how to make him rein in his tongue”.

Shehbaz, who is also the opposition leader in the National Assembly, and Fazl, the president of the multi-party alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), met in Islamabad and exchanged views on the current political situation, particularly the premier’s recent hard-hitting speeches.

Addressing a joint news conference after the meeting, Shehbaz, whose party is part of the PDM, said no matter how much one condemned the language used by PM Imran, it was still not enough.

“He [PM Imran] is calling [PML-N supremo and Shehbaz’s brother] Nawaz Sharif a fugitive, but he will soon become one himself,” he added.

“[Imran Khan] Niazi is a product of election rigging. He claims that I polish boots even though he himself has been brought by the establishment.”

Shehbaz recalled that when former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had overthrown the PML-N government, he was sent to Attock jail. “If I was a boot shiner, I wouldn’t have gone to jail.”

The PML-N president told PM Imran to keep his tongue in control or else he knew how to do it.

Shehbaz said Fazl had displayed a lot of patience even after the cruelty suffered by the lawmakers of his party, referring to the Islamabad police storming the Parliament Lodges a day earlier and arresting JUI-F MNA Salahuddin Ayubi, MNA Maulana Jamaluddin and 19 others.

The PML-N president dared the premier to come to Islamabad’s D-Chowk, saying that the opposition would battle with him with its full force and make him regret it.

Also read: Gen Bajwa asked me not to call JUI-F chief 'diesel', says Imran

The JUI-F chief said the premier’s condition had deteriorated as he was no longer in his senses.
“He [premier] lacked morality from birth. I have no idea how he was imposed on the nation but the days of getting rid of him are approaching fast,” he added.

The Maulana claimed that the whole country came to a standstill in an hour on his call. “We know how to bring you to a standstill too.”

The JUI-F chief said the premier resorted to defaming and using immoral words.

“Your language is enough to ascertain that you are not qualified to be the prime minister. Making you the premier is disrespectful to this post.”

The PDM president asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the prime minister’s speeches and restrain him.

“Pakistan can no longer tolerate such people.”

Fazl maintained that the opposition had the majority in the lower house of parliament to oust the government.

“If you have the majority, then fight the political war. Why do you lose your senses and start abusing your rivals whenever there are speeches on no-confidence motion? A man of this stature should not be a ruler.”
The JUI-F chief said if he had obtained any diesel permit while he was a minister and committed corruption, then the PTI had been in power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for years. “If you have the courage, then bring a corruption case against me.”

To a query, Fazl said he was unaware of army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa refraining the premier from calling him “diesel”.

“You are aware of my politics. I try to keep the civil and military bureaucracies separate as both are respectable to me.”