ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has expressed annoyance on media reports quoting him as saying that deposed prime minister “Nawaz Sharif will not able to show his face if Nisar revealed his secrets.”
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Friday, he said he had a relationship based on respect with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its leadership, adding that he cannot even think about hurting the party he joined three decades ago.
“Some say I am angry … I can’t even think about hurting PML-N, I have a relation of respect with them, how can I hurt them? When Nawaz Sharif declared Mujeebur Rehman patriot I said nothing … I gave statement that cases regarding Mumbai attacks could not proceed due to India’s negligence,” he said.
Calling the media reports ‘fake news’, he said there was no reference of where he had said this, “no media person was mentioned to be sitting there, but it created chaos, it quoted me as saying that if I open my mouth then Nawaz Sharif will not be able to show his face anywhere, I immediately denied it. Few Urdu newspaper published articles on the basis of this, but they published our denial also.”
The former minister also dismissed reports of seat adjustment with his friend Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the next month’s general elections.
“I was watching TV and came across some fake news that I have done seat adjustment. I am blessed for being the only politician to be elected in National assembly eight times consecutively. I always said this to Nawaz Sharif that loyalty is not to agree with everything your leader says but it is to put ground realities in front of him,” he said.
“I will hold a detailed press conference soon but not until Begum Kulsoom Nawaz gets well. I don’t want to accuse anyone, I will only reveal facts,” Nisar added.
Last week, the former federal minister had come down hard on his party leadership while indirectly addressing Nawaz Sharif. “I ask the people from Jati Umrah not to ridicule themselves by staging such dramas and not to ridicule me either,” he had said in a statement.
His words came in the backdrop of reports that Nisar had been informed that appearing before the PML-N parliamentary board awarding election tickets was compulsory. The ex-minister, however, deemed it insulting to have him appear for an interview or to even apply for a ticket.
“Since when do senior members of the party have to appear before a parliamentary board for party tickets?” he asked in the statement.
Prior to the latest episode of hostility, Nisar and PML-N leaders close to Sharif also exchanged harsh statements in public a few weeks back. Nisar received a major setback after not being included in the PML-N parliamentary board awarding tickets for the general elections. Just days later, adding insult to injury, Shehbaz likened Nisar to a child “who gets upset and we have to make him happy.”
Last Sunday, the ex-interior minister had his nomination forms for general elections submitted with the Election Commission of Pakistan Rawalpindi office for four seats; two national Assembly and two Punjab Assembly – NA-59 Rawalpindi, NA-63 Taxila, PP-10 and PP-12.
Nisar has been winning National Assembly seats since 1985. He has served as an MNA eight times. He successfully contested and won his home constituency of NA-52 in every election since 1985. The constituency has been split in the delimitation this year, with most of it now falling in NA-59.