Those who followed Constitution are facing politically motivated cases: Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Nawaz Sharif has said that those who followed the Constitution are facing politically motivated cases and the primary reason for the current problems were those people who “hijacked the people’s mandate by putting inexperienced people in power.”

Addressing the All Parties Conference in Islamabad through video link, Nawaz Sharif said, “Pakistan has been constantly deprived of a democratic system. When the vote is dishonored, the entire democratic system becomes meaningless”.

He further said Pakistan has become a laboratory of “such experiments”. “Every child knows that no prime minister has been permitted to complete five years in power in the country,” Nawaz said, adding that all dictators have spent several years while premiers have hardly been permitted to complete their term.

Sharif said that the incompetent PTI-led government has taken a U-turn on every issue faced by the nation. “Despite being away from the country, I know what our people are going through,” he maintained.

The PML-N leader said, “Pakistan is going through a lot of issues, and the cause is just one: Pakistan has been kept away from democracy. The country should be run by those elected by the people.”

Courts acquitted dictators and provided them legal support for three years. “The only one to be convicted hasn’t even been caught,” Nawaz remarked.

Nawaz said former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani once pointed to “a state within a state” in Pakistan. “It is saddening that the situation has escalated to a state above the state. This parallel government illness is the root cause of our issues.”

He also repeated the opposition’s accusation that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), with the involvement of PTI, was carrying out only “selective accountability against the opponents”.

The former prime minister said, “When the vote is dishonored, the entire democratic system becomes meaningless. When it is decided before the election process as to who will win and who will lose, then it can be guessed how the public is betrayed and how the public’s mandate is stolen.”

On the occasion, PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari said the APC should have taken place quite a while ago. Criticizing the PTI government for not “allowing” former PM  Nawaz Sharif’s speech to be broadcast, he said they showed former president Pervez Musharraf’s interview.

PML-N, National Party (NP), Awami National Party (ANP), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Jamiatul Hadees are participating in the conference.

PML-N del­e­gation, under party president and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, arrived at the conference with Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq, Pervaiz Rasheed, Maryam Nawaz, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah, Ameer Maqam and Marriyum Aurangzeb.