‘Only top-tier leadership can fix issues’

Javed Latif claims ‘second-tier leadership’ does not even enjoy trust of party

LAHORE:

 

Federal Minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Latif said on Saturday that only the top-tier leadership of the ruling party could steer the country out of the current crises, a reference to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the minister without portfolio said that the second-tier party leadership did not even enjoy the trust of the party supporters “let alone a global lender, who would want to engage with a person who commanded confidence of at least his own people”.

“Only the top-tier leadership can work things around for the country,” Latif said, referring to the PML-N Quaid. “It is the top tier leader, in whose name the party asks for public support and seeks votes from the masses,” he added.

The second tier leadership – a veiled reference to incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – did not enjoy full support of the party, which owed its success to the man at the top [Nawaz Sharif]. The lenders “know fully well, who they can trust with their money and whose commitment they can bank on”.

Latif reiterated his claim regarding Nawaz’s return, saying that the PML-N Quaid would come back to the country in September, but in the same breath, he also spoke about the need for having a level-playing field, which from the PML-N standpoint, translated into the quashment of all the cases against him.

Responding to a question, the minister dispelled the impression that the government was not doing enough to fix the economy. This government, he said, did not have the breathing space that the previous governments had. “That was why many bitter pills had to be swallowed for the good of the nation.”

It is pertinent to mention here that no other party leaders had thus far made any claim of this sort and even when they were asked about Nawaz Sharif’s return they expressed their complete ignorance.