PML-N leader lashes out at party leadership

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan has lashed out at his own party for turning a blind eye to public issues and ignoring party workers.

“Politicians and the establishment are equally responsible for the current fiasco prevailing in the country,” he said at a media briefing after a gathering of party workers.

The PML-N leader also criticised the inflated federal cabinet consisting of 80 ministers and advisers, terming them a burden on the national exchequer.

Commenting on the current political scenario in the country, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed said that the PML-N government was equally responsible for the current political and economic malaise. “It is a common practice that after winning elections and coming to power, parliamentarians become stooges of the establishment,” he said and asked the International Monetary Fund to bind the government to share details of all loans taken and expenditures incurred during the last 20 years so that the responsibility could be fixed.

He said that elections were not the solution to the prevailing situation and asked people from all walks of life to raise their voice to get rid of the corrupt political system.

Sardar Mehtab said that all political parties were responsible for the current dangerous situation facing the country.

Aiming his gun at his own party, he said that the PML-N has been ruined in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and demanded to immediately replace the current provincial leadership saying no one will get a party ticket in the next general election “if appropriate measures were not taken.”

He asked the party workers not to follow leadership blindly and raise their voice and concerns. Sardar Mehtab, who is also the PML-N’s central vice-president, said that unfortunately the political leadership does not take ownership of the country and uses it as an “income-generating tool”.

Criticizing the current parliament, he termed it inactive and inefficient and said half of the parliament has already resigned.

He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had badly failed to deliver and it was about to vanish from the political arena when PML-N was brought to power to save the sinking boat of the PTI and give a mooring to their public image.

He said that party supremo Nawaz Sharif is the only symbol of unity for the party and the country whereas the current party leadership has its own agenda and objective “which is totally different from the vision of Nawaz Sharif.”

He advised the workers to warmly welcome Maryum Nawaz Sharif during her visit to the Hazara division as she is the daughter of Nawaz Sharif.

Answering a question, Sardar Mehatab said that most ministers in the federal cabinet have failed to deliver and political cronies have surrounded the prime minister for their vested interest.

He said that it is a sorry state of affairs that “we are on the top of the list of most corrupt countries.” Unfortunately, important decisions in the country are not taken by public representatives but by outside forces including the IMF.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2023.