PML-N’s doors closed to fickle politicians: Nisar

Opposition leader defends Zahid Iqbal’s move to quit PPP in favour of PML-N.

LAHORE:

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said on Wednesday that the doors of his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, have been permanently shut on those who changed their political affiliations multiple times during the last four years.

Nisar said such people, who aligned themselves with different parties “four times in four years” do not have the right to represent the people of Chichawatni in Sahiwal district, according to an official handout.

He added such persons are not steadfast and “knock on every door, but do not belong anywhere.”

Nisar was referring to the distribution of party tickets for the upcoming by-elections scheduled to be held on December 4.

Two national assembly and four provincial assembly seats fell vacant last month following the disqualification of six parliamentarians said to be holding dual nationalities.

One of these former lawmakers belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party, while the rest are affiliated with the PML-N.



Nisar, however, chose to defend one member of the national assembly who decided to quit the PPP in favour of PML-N. Zahid Iqbal was disqualified from NA-162, Sahiwal, for holding dual nationality.

Nisar said PML-N’s leadership itself had invited Iqbal to join the party – a move, he added, the latter had been pondering over since the past four years.

Nisar maintained Iqbal is the only politician who had the honesty to openly admit his dual nationality status, and has now decided to serve the people again by publicly renouncing his foreign citizenship.

He added it was the responsibility of every dedicated worker of PML-N to leave no stone unturned in ensuring the success of Zahid Iqbal, thereby laying the foundation of PML-N’s victory in the upcoming general elections.

He said that if PML-N is voted into power, it will work to address the miseries of the people of Sahiwal who have been neglected for the past 13 years. Nisar said Chichawatni was a second home for him and hoped the people would vote for Iqbal in the by-polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2012.