Shehbaz fully trusts Gen Asim

Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday expressed confidence in the incumbent Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, saying that there would be no possibility of any conspiracy in his presence.

Speaking during the Express News programme ‘Kal Tak’, Shehbaz said that he worked with army chief Gen Asim for seven months, and found him very serious about the development of the country.

Shehbaz emphasised that PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif would be the next prime minister, in any case. “Nawaz Sharif can bring the nation together and he wishes to forget the past and move forward,” the former prime minister told the interviewer.

“Nawaz Sharif has presented the election manifesto, which has been prepared after much consultation. If we get the opportunity, if Nawaz Sharif gets the post of prime minister for the fourth time, he will make all out efforts to make the country a welfare state,” he said.

“Stability will come when the country becomes a welfare state. If there is economic development, all the sit-ins [protests] will end. If the government gets time to work, there will be progress,” he said. “Nawaz Sharif has given a clear message that he will take everyone along.”

In response to a question about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, Shehbaz said that if someone had committed a crime, he would have to face the law.

“One who has committed a crime will face the law, there cannot be any cover-up.”

He emphasised that before Imran’s premiership, there used to be a lot of bitterness, but the political rivals would get together at social events, and talk to each other to find a way out.

“National unity and political dialogue is the need of the hour,” he said.

The PML-N president, who replaced Imran as the prime minister after his removal through a no-confidence motion in April 2022, stressed that he did not wish to sound harsh about the PTI founder, who was in jail now, put the state at stake for his own cheap publicity.

“Imran Khan was ready to do anything for his own self. He signed the agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), but then he himself violated it. The reason for the current inflation is the PTI founder. We had no choice but to swallow the bitter pill of the IMF,” he said.

When asked that both Miftah Ismail and Ishaq Dar, the two finance ministers during Shehbaz’s term in office, failed to reach an agreement with the IMF, Shehbaz said that Dar was “very hardworking”. “We saved the country from bankruptcy.”

The former prime minister emphasised that a lame government could not bring any stability. He also stressed that the debate about ‘Ladla’ (favourite) should end now and the country should move forward. To another question, he said: “We will accept whomever the nation votes for.”

Asked further if he wanted to make Lahore like Karachi, Shehbaz wished Karachi to be the most beautiful city in the world. However, he said that unfortunately, there was no water available to the people of the Sindh capital and the roads were broken there. “Karachi has been brutalised.”