Nawaz vows not to bow down to tactics

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif vowed on Monday to not bow down to machinations against him, but to fight them.

Addressing party lawmakers alongside Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz said, “If you all backed me, then we will definitely win this battle.”

Nawaz’s daughter Maryam and Shehbaz’s son MNA Hamza Shehbaz were also in attendance along with other party leaders.

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Nawaz said, “Imran Khan, stop with your duplicity and spreading lies. This is not how a new Pakistan will be formed.”

He asked Imran what his party had done for public welfare in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the PTI had been in power.

The former premier asked the PTI chief not to compare KP with Punjab.

Turning his guns towards the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Nawaz said it was not an easy task to clamp down on terrorism and questioned why the PPP did not initiate the Karachi Operation in 2013 on its own.

"It was the responsibility of the Sindh government to eradicate terrorism from Karachi," he said, adding, "Today, it has been 10 years since the PPP has been ruling in Sindh province. I want to ask what the Sindh government has done so far.

Would've changed Pakistan if wasn't ousted, says Nawaz

Former PM was addressing reporters outside the accountability court hearing corruption cases against him

"Didn't the people give mandate [to them] for putting an end to terrorism, but this too was done by us," the former premier said, lamenting that the megapolis has turned into a "pile of garbage."

Referring to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz said, “Zardari sahib, there are allegations against you of taking the country into the dark ages.”

The three-time premier then challenged his opponents in KP and Sindh to compare their provinces to Punjab, where the PML-N had been in power.

Later, the event was also addressed by PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier today, speaking outside the accountability court conducting corruption proceedings against him, Nawaz lashed out at Imran Khan and the PTI.

He was reacting to Imran's rally in Lahore yesterday, wherein the PTI chief criticised the ruling party and Sharif brothers.

The former premier took a jibe at the PTI saying, "Jalsa Lahore da, majma Peshawar da, agenda ksi hor da (Lahore rally had crowd from Peshawar and served someone else's agenda)."

Nawaz further said that they had been listening to these shallow slogans for a quite some time, asking the PTI chief to also do something.

"What they did in KP is before everyone and it does not have any comparison with Punjab."

In response to a question by a newsman, he said that he could only tell something after going through PTI's 11-point agenda announced by Imran Khan for the upcoming elections.

Maryam Nawaz, while responding to another query, said she did not listen to the PTI chief's speech at Lahore rally.