‘PML-N is not to be blamed for the defeat in 2018’: Abbasi refutes Shehbaz’s claim

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says that the PML-N is not to be blamed for the defeat in the 2018 general elections.

He said the PML-N walked into the elections on the basis of its best five-year performance.

Khaqan Abbasi, while speaking on Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, refuted the claims of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

A day prior to Khaqan’s interview, Shehbaz had asserted that Nawaz Sharif would have been elected prime minister for a fourth time if the PML-N leaders had made a strategy based on consensus in the pre-2018 election period.

Khaqan proposed a setting up of a truth commission to dig into what happened in the 2018 elections and the harm it has caused the country.

Shahzeb Khanzada pointed out the ongoing confusion within the PML-N and said that the party presidency is in the hands of Shehbaz Sharif who supports “reconciliation” while the party narrative is being given by Maryam Nawaz who has an aggressive approach towards politics and advocates “resistance”. He further added that with this scenario, it seems likely that Nawaz Sharif has created this confusion.

Abbasi said politics does not see either resistance or reconciliation. Politics is catered through principles instead. Shehbaz has always supported running the country in accordance with the Constitution, he said.

Shahzeb asked that Shehbaz calls the criticism on the military an emotional statement while the party calls this criticism a policy statement.

Commenting on Shehbaz’s remarks about criticism of the military leadership by Nawaz, Abbasi said Shehbaz only meant to explain Nawaz’s remarks. He said Shehbaz also mentioned that Imran Khan too had spoken against the army before coming into power, adding that the PML-N supremo did not criticise the army as a whole.

He repeated his demand that a truth commission needs to be set up, saying it is the only way to dispel the confusion. The [former] chiefs of the ISI and army bring facts to light by writing books and giving interviews and the situation leads to more confusion, he added.

The former premier said that there is a single narrative of Nawaz Sharif and the party, adding that Nawaz always wants every institution to function within its constitutional limits and the country to be run as per the Constitution. No compromise is possible on law and the Constitution, Abbasi said.