-Down plays PML-N leader’s claim of happening of major event soon
-Says PM will not be going anywhere
From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad Sunday offered to buy a return ticket for Nawaz Sharif from his own pocket if the PML-N supremo is willing to return to Pakistan.
Speaking at a presser in Karachi, Sheikh Rasheed, who is on a seven-day visit to Sindh province, said that Nawaz Sharif is neither sick nor he has consulted any doctor for his treatment in London. “They (PML-N) have nothing to do but to speak against the state institutions,” he said.
The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is not going anywhere as local bodies elections in Punjab will be held until June, bringing an end to the four-year tenure of the incumbent government.
“The last year is usually for running the election campaign,” he said while detailing how the incumbent government is not under threat.
He lamented that Asif Zardari and the Sharif family are corrupt to their core and said that Imran Khan is a fighter and he would fight against this corrupt leadership until his last breath. “Imran Khan currently enjoys a better working relationship with the establishment,” he said.
Sheikh Rasheed said that Khan wanted to nab sugar and flour mafias enjoying subsidies, however, the latter have long roots in the system. The interior minister rejected any talks with the MQM founder and said that no talks will be held with him as he is wanted in multiple cases of violence in the country. He, however, said that he enjoys a better relationship with MQM-P leadership. Sheikh Rasheed said that the Pakistani government has indirect contacts with the TTP and Afghanistan government currently led by the Taliban had assured that their soil would not be used against Pakistan.
“The fencing work along the Pak-Afghan border is also ongoing to counter violent acts,” he said and added that Pakistan wanted to address the woes of Afghan people and had invited global and Muslim leaders to highlight their humanitarian plights during the OIC moot.
