Islamabad: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has refused to resign amid mounting pressure from protesters to resign, saying the country has survived “difficult times” and the current political crisis too shall pass.
“In the 2008 elections, our hands were tied. But we campaigned and participated, we did not cry about rigging –- and it would have been a legitimate cry,” he said in his first major speech on Wednesday, since the crisis erupted two weeks ago.
“Because at that time there was a dictator that controlled the government. He held those elections…But we said if PPP has got more seats than us then we will accept that right of the PPP,” he said in his address to the National Assembly.
Political stalemate has continued for the last two weeks with Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) refusing to budge from their demand of the Prime Minister’s resignation over allegations of rigging in last year’s general election and killing of 14 PAT supporters in Lahore on June 17.
Sharif expressed hope that this phase will pass and Pakistan will be steered towards prosperity.
The Prime Minister in his address indicated in no uncertain terms that his government and the present Parliament are here to stay.
“We are not going to be diverted by these things. The journey for the supremacy of Constitution and law in Pakistan will continue with full determination and God willing there will not be any interruption in it,” he said.
Sharif said the nation’s history would remember the day as a great one for democracy. “This great display of strength will always be remembered. It makes me happy to think that this is the voice of the 200 million people of the country,” the premier said.
Sharif said his PML-N for five years worked with the Pakistan People’s Party government and supported it to complete its term. “I visited him (Imran Khan) in the hospital when he was injured and he congratulated me on winning the polls and said he will play the role of a constructive opposition,” Sharif told the House. “Imran’s claims were published in the papers as well,” he said, adding that PTI had reservations but accepted the results of the elections.
“Later, when Imran invited me to Bani Gala, I went and we had a pleasant discussion. He assured me he is with the government in all steps taken in good faith,” Sharif said.
The crisis escalated in the last week with thousands of supporters of Khan and Qadri camping outside the Parliament, demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ordered PTI and PAT protesters to clear the Constitution Avenue which also includes a road in front of the apex court and the Parliament by Thursday.
A five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, was hearing a set of identical petitions filed by bar associations across the country against the PAT and PTI’s sit-ins on Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue.
According to petitioners, protesters were breaching the rights of the common citizen which ensure freedom of movement and right of assembly.
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