ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Commenting on a letter written by the PTI to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said no political party could so and it was up to the people to deduce the result.
He was responding to the questions asked by reporters after his arrival at the Parliament House to attend the inaugural session of newly-elected National Assembly.
“They can write such letters. It is their tradition,” Nawaz said – a reference to the PTI’s practices and actions in the past, including the sit-in staged in 2014 and the May 9 violence.
Similarly, Shehbaz Sharif – the PML-N president who will soon assume the prime minister office for a second term – said the letter written to the IMF was yet another exhibit of anti-state approach.
No one should have any doubt that the PTI founder wanted to completely destroy the country, Shehbaz said while describing the stunt as condemnable.
Separately, PML-N Hamza Shehbaz described the latest move as a repeat of May 9, but said their attempt to set the country’s economy on fire would fail.
On the other hand, PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar said the PTI was aiming at creating anarchy in Pakistan for personal gains. The PTI founder should have also mentioned in the letter that he was in prison after being convicted on corruption charges.
The controversy is triggered after the PTI asked the IMF to endorse an audit of the 2024 elections, before entering into a dialogue with Islamabad for a new bailout package.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nawaz had told the PML-N parliamentary party meeting that Pakistan was "badly injured" and required difficult decisions to meeting the current challenges.
About the PTI founding chairman, he said it was "never heard of that such [harsh] words were used against a prime minister".
"We invited you at every point but you exhibited uncivilised behaviour in your rule," he said and added that he had remained unable to understand what the PTI wanted to achieve.