Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif has criticised his elder brother and jailed former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif “for picking fights with the establishment and not paying heed to his advice”, SamaaTV reported.

Reports quoted Shehbaz as saying at a party meeting on Thursday that he had told Nawaz during his last stint “to stop fighting with the establishment and serve the people”.

“[I] advised him [Nawaz] to not remove General (r) Jahangir Karamat and General (r) Pervez Musharraf as army chiefs, but my brother didn’t listen.”

“Tayyip Erdogan had served his country for 15 years, that’s why people came out in his support [and foiled the coup]”, he said, adding that if the PML-N government had completed another two or three terms, people would have come out in their support as well.

“We suffered major losses at a crucial time because my brother didn’t listen to me,” Shehbaz said further.

“I also advised him against joining the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Azadi March later this month. We cannot fight and always end up hurting ourselves.”

SHARIF BROTHERS DIVIDED:

However, Nawaz while speaking to reporters during his hearing at an accountability court in Lahore on Friday said that he fully supported the forthcoming JUI-F rally against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

“Our viewpoint is the same as that of Maulana [Fazlur Rehman],” the former premier said.

He recalled that Rehman had called for resignations and protest after the 2018 general elections and added, “But [now] I feel that his argument was solid.”

“Not paying heed to Maulana’s call for the march would be a mistake,” he said.

“I have already written a letter to Shehbaz in this regard, detailing the future course of action of the party and the PML-N president would brief the media soon.”