Decision to nominate Shehbaz as PM candidate taken unanimously: Rasheed

ISLAMABAD: Senator and former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed on Saturday said on Saturday that nominating Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate for prime minister in the next general elections was a unanimous decision by the party.

“The decision to choose Shehbaz as PML-N’s prime ministerial candidate is our party’s unanimous decision,” the former information minister said in an interview to Saleem Safi on Geo News programme Jirga.

‘Not a scapegoat’

Rasheed denied that he was used as a scapegoat in response to a question about his ouster from office.

“Nawaz Sharif had to take the decision under duress,” he said. “I know Nawaz was not responsible for my ouster.”

“I can say something here but it will start a new debate, and I don’t intend to do so,” Rasheed said when the host insisted that he disclose who had pressured Nawaz for the ouster.

Safi reminded the former minister that his party member and then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had held Rasheed’s ‘doings’ responsible for his ouster.

“What he [Nisar] refers to as my doings are Pakistan’s national interest,” he stressed. “Pakistan can be saved [from turmoil] if its citizens and lawmakers talk frankly and express their national interest,” he stressed.

‘Time to act tactfully, not emotionally’

Discussing the recent downturn in Pak-US ties, Rasheed said that it was time to make tactful decisions.

“Now is the time to deal with tact and not make emotional decisions,” he said.

Rasheed alleged that former president Pervez Musharraf was responsible for inviting war to "this region".

“US accusations are a result of strategies Pakistan adopted in the past,” he stressed.

The former information minister also blamed a lack of power granted to the prime minister to set matters straight with the US.

“National unity and a strong prime minister were needed to bring Pakistan out of the swamp that we are in today,” he said. “Unfortunately, we had neither.”

‘No deal with Saudi Arabia’

In response to a question from the host about a possible deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Rasheed said people should be ashamed to make such accusations.

“People who are alleging the Sharif’s made a deal should feel ashamed,” he said. “They were invited to the country, because not only Pakistan has very close ties with the Kingdom, but also because the Sharif family has personal relations with the ruling Saudi family.”

On Dec 21, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has nominated his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz as the candidate for the prime minister in the next elections.

Nawaz had announced this decision after a meeting of PML-N bigwigs at his Jati Umra residence.

In October 2016, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had taken back the portfolio of Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage from Pervaiz Rashid, weeks after the military's top commanders said a 'false and fabricated' newspaper report breached national security.