File photo of Khawaja Saad Rafique
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique on Sunday took the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)—without directly naming it—to task, maintaining it would reduce Lahore to ruins much as it had Karachi if voted into power.
Addressing a workers’ convention in Lahore’s NA-119 constituency, he noted that a party was fielding its leader from a neighboring constituency—an apparent reference to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari contesting from NA-127. He also criticized the PPP for continuously demanding a level-playing field in Lahore, alleging it was not allowing anyone to utter even a single word against it in Sindh.
Outlining the PMLN’s performance in Punjab, he said it had introduced youth-oriented projects such as laptop distribution and infrastructure developments. The PPP, by contrast, he said had tried to copy the PMLN’s mass transit projects in Sindh, but had not executed them properly.
Stressing that the Army generals and judges who had “stolen” the 2018 general elections had hurt the entire nation, he reiterated the PMLN’s claims that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 because he refused to accept any “dictation.” Nonetheless, he maintained, the PMLN was willing to form a coalition government after the upcoming polls in the national interest, even if it secured a majority from voters.
Turning to the PTI, Rafique said the PMLN did not want the rival party to lose its electoral symbol, but stressed it also did not wish to see the law being bent solely to suit its interests. Ridiculing the PTI’s reliance on social media narratives, he said the upcoming polls would be grounded in reality, adding social media platforms could be manipulated but people’s mindsets could not. He also accused PTI leader Imran Khan of using social media to attack state institutions.
Referring to the “tangible” performance of the PMLN, the former federal minister said it had developed motorways and energy projects, while the PTI’s four years in power had seen no major progress. Referring to the rival party’s successive governments in KP—spanning nine years—he said it had failed to build any major hospital or introduce new power projects.