Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has accused his predecessor, Imran Jan, of trying to «ruin» Pakistan with his calls for demonstrations to demand early elections, amid the deepening political crisis in the Central Asian country.
«Defeat is the fate of those who participate in the ‘long march’,» Sharif said in remarks after a round of contacts with his party leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is also his brother, as reported by the Pakistani television channel Geo TV.
Thus, Nawaz Sharif has asked to «pray» to «put Pakistan on the right path» in the face of the «great difficulties» the country is going through. «We have never listened to the dictates of the mobs and we will not do so now,» he warned.
The Pakistani prime minister has rejected Jan’s calls for early elections and for appointing a new army chief with his approval. However, sources close to the talks quoted by ‘Dawn’ have said that the government is adamant that it will not budge.
Jan, who last week survived an assassination attempt after being shot at during a protest, vowed Thursday after the start of the «long march» to the capital Islamabad that he will fight «till the last breath» for the defense of «freedom.»
The leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e.Insaf (PTI) party, who in April became the first Pakistani leader to be ousted in a no-confidence motion, was disqualified in late October by the election commission for failing to declare money from the sale of gifts and presents received from international leaders when he was at the head of the government.
His departure from office was followed by a growing political tension marked by scandals of transfuguism and massive protests in favor and against the Prime Minister, denounced by the opposition alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as a «puppet» of the Army. The Armed Forces are considered to be the most powerful force in Pakistan since its independence from the British Raj in 1947.
