Senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan expressed concern over the growing culture of sit-ins in the country and said the politics of violence should be brought to an end in order to save the country from becoming a “banana republic”.
“All political parties, the media, and state institutions should join hands to end the politics of sit-ins,” Nisar said while addressing a press conference in Taxila.
The former interior minister said a precedent seemed to have been set wherein powerful groups, some with considerable militant power, stage a sit-in and hold Islamabad hostage.
“You will not see such things happening in any other democratic country,” he maintained, adding that democracy was in danger because of the politics of sit-ins.
He said the chapter of sit-ins must be closed in order to “put the country on the track of progress and development”.
Nisar advised his party leadership to avoid collision with the state institutions. He said the PML-N was in hot waters and the party leadership would have to follow a sensible approach, as a “better working relationship with state institutions would be in the favour of the party and Nawaz Sharif”.
“The judiciary, the army, and other institutions should not be criticised,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to have a post or medal from the army but all these suggestions are in the interest of the party.
The country has been facing severe external threats so the PML-N should focus on the 2018 elections. Delaying the Senate elections would be disastrous for the country, he maintained.
Talking about the report of the judicial commission on the Model Town tragedy, he said that the three-member bench had issued some directions along with the orders to publish the report. In the presence of these directions of the court, if someone demands resignations then it would be illogical.
He welcomed the decision of Jawed Hashmi to rejoin the party.
The former minister once again criticised Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, saying it was the same police and the same Frontier Constabulary who had successfully faced several sit-ins during his tenure.
