Hindustan Time's special coverage to Nawaz Sharif's speech against Pak Army

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Minister (2k+ posts)
Pak army a state above the state, says Nawaz Sharif as Oppn unites against military leaders
From being a state within a state, it was now a state above the state, says former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

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Pakistan’s major opposition parties on Sunday demanded an end to interference by the country’s military leaders in politics, with former premier Nawaz Sharif saying the army has gone from a ‘state within a state’ to a ‘state above the state’.

For most of Pakistan’s history, there has been either a military dictator at the helm of affairs or, when there was an elected government, a parallel government was being run by the military, Sharif said in a hard-hitting speech to the conference which was attended by leaders of nearly all major opposition parties.

The PML-N leader addressed the All Parties Conference, organised by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, via video link from London where he is undergoing medical treatment. Significantly, some parts of the proceedings of the conference were censored on most local TV channels.

The military’s interference has reached a point where, from being a state within a state, it was now a state above the state, Sharif said. “This is the root cause of all our problems.”

“Our struggle isn’t against (Prime Minister) Imran Khan but with the forces that have installed his illegitimate government to power,” said Sharif. While political leaders were consistently victimised in the name of accountability, army dictators got away despite subverting the Constitution and committing all sorts of crimes, he added.

In contrast, he said, there were no accountability proceedings against army generals and gave the example of Asim Saleem Bajwa, a retired general and now head of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority, whose undeclared holdings were exposed by the media but no action was taken.

“We want elected leaders to run the affairs of the country, to manage the economy and to decide on the foreign policy.” said Sharif.

The former PM said that under the Imran Khan government, Pakistan has become internationally isolated. “The Indian government took advantage of the weak and incompetent government to swallow Kashmir,” he alleged, adding, “even Pakistan’s friends did not stand by it when it protested.”

Sharif asked whose agenda foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was working on when he attacked Saudi Arabia and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. He was referring to the minister’s comments attacking the Saudi leadership of OIC over what he called its ‘dilly-dallying’ on the Kashmir issue, which led to souring of relations with Riyadh.

“When we pointed out that our friendly countries were warning us about our involvement in external issues which was being done at the behest of the military, we were attacked and it was turned into a scandal,” Sharif noted. Now, Pakistan has to deal with the shame of trying to meet targets set by platforms like the FATF, he said, referring to Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing.

Sharif said the country’s economy had crashed, inflation is up while the Pakistani rupee is at a historic low and economic growth had significantly fallen.

He warned his audience that in such a situation, “when the economy is weak, the country will be unable to defend itself from external aggression.”

Sharif demanded accountability of Khan’s own assets, the overseas assets of his sister and of those close to the prime minister who had benefited from the sugar shortage in the country.

He said that state interference in public life in Pakistan had increased manifold. He lamented attacks on the media and the harassment of journalists. “The policy to divide and rule has been extended from politicians to the media, lawyers, industrialists and even the judiciary.”

Sharif called for the supremacy of parliament and the sanctity of the vote.

Earlier, while welcoming the participants to the conference, former president Asif Ali Zardari of PPP said the witch hunt being conducted by the present government against politicians should end. “They have even dragged the womenfolk of our families into these false cases,” he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told the conference the time has come for a united opposition platform to fight the selected government of prime minister Imran Khan.

Hindustan Times
 

Caballero

Senator (1k+ posts)
نوازشریف غدار ہے

اس لعنتی نے پاکستان کو بیدردی سے لوٹا اور بھارت سے مل کر پاکستان کا نام فیٹف کی گرے لسٹ میں ڈلوایا

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Nawaz Sharif is a traitor and that is why Pakistan's powerful establishment made him the Prime Minister 3 times and until yesterday was busy brokering a 4th deal with his brother Shehbaz Sharif ?

Chawla na maria karo Youthio ?
 

First Strike

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
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Nawaz Sharif is a traitor and that is why Pakistan's powerful establishment made him the Prime Minister 3 times and until yesterday was busy brokering a 4th deal with his brother Shehbaz Sharif ?

Chawla na maria karo Youthio ?

Oey Chotiye tera baap nawaz sharif aik ghaddar hey. Wo convicted criminal aur proclaimed offender hey. Nawaz sharif khan se deal ker raha hy k Mariyum ki le lo aur mujhay ma pakro
 

MADdoo

Minister (2k+ posts)
when personal interest of NS and Zardari is above state interest such episodes will happen. All they need is power and relief on corruption. this is kind of dangal trick to handle the opponent. tomorrow if khan will say i will resign and lets go for new election, they will be on back foot.
 

Hussain1967

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Instead of pointing everything towards India, we need to look inside our country. No matter what rest of the world says, we need to find answer to following question.

“Is Our Army State within State or State Above State”.
 

SharpAsKnife

Minister (2k+ posts)
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Nawaz Sharif is a traitor and that is why Pakistan's powerful establishment made him the Prime Minister 3 times and until yesterday was busy brokering a 4th deal with his brother Shehbaz Sharif ?

Chawla na maria karo Youthio ?

So you are saying, your leader is a effing snitch? or a dirty dog of establishment and now he is barking against the masters because they have kicked his ass?
 

Will_Bite

Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
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Nawaz Sharif is a traitor and that is why Pakistan's powerful establishment made him the Prime Minister 3 times and until yesterday was busy brokering a 4th deal with his brother Shehbaz Sharif ?

Chawla na maria karo Youthio ?
Lol....So what is it? Is Nawaz Sharif a tout of the establishment himself? If so, then why didnt he admit to that in his address and beg Pakistan for forgiveness? Either one way, or another. Cant have it both ways.
 

Sonya Khan

Minister (2k+ posts)
This speech of Nawaz Sharif was actually for Saudia, America and Endia ..... Nawaz Sharif knows people of Pakistan love Pak Army and will never rise on his call ....... So he has played his final card by coming out strongly against the establishment in hope international powers may help propel him again to power just to spite Pak Army ..... This as I say is political Harakiri by not only Nawaz Sharif but also the combined opposition ....... Very stupid move for a herd of so-called very seasoned politicians ...... They all got played by Maryam Nawaz in her quest to overthrow her conviction and subsequent ineligibility for election by force .......