Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan's prime Minister Imran Khan has accused political rival and former three-times premier Nawaz Sharif of "playing India's online game" by criticising the nation's powerful militia, as a bitter political feud deepens within the South Asian nation.
Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) celebration that came into vigor in 2018, turned into speaking all the way through an interview broadcast late on Thursday.
"Now he [Sharif] has long past [to the United Kingdom] and is taking part in India's video game. he is attacking Pakistan sitting over there. he is one hundred percent getting backing [from India], he is a coward and without that, he could not be doing anything," noted Khan.
The major minister changed into responding to renewed assaults on the executive in fresh weeks by Sharif, whose Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) birthday party has joined an opposition alliance in a bid to topple Khan's government.
Sharif has been dwelling within the UK when you consider that ultimate November, when he left Pakistan on clinical bail to get hold of remedy for a blood platelet difficulty that doctors mentioned threatened his lifestyles. He became convicted and imprisoned on corruption prices in 2018, however turned into granted bail throughout his appeal.
previous on Thursday, Sharif addressed celebration leaders at a high-degree assembly through a video link, accusing the government of the use of "dual standards of accountability" in its anti-corruption power.
On Monday, anti-corruption officials arrested Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz's more youthful brother and PML-N president, after his petition for an extension of bail in a corruption case turned into rejected.
Khan has made the anti-corruption drive a centrepiece of his rule, with his executive pursuing cases towards the Sharifs, former President Asif Ali Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (Fazl faction) chief Fazal-ur Rehman and different leaders.
a number of key opposition figures, including Shehbaz Sharif's son, are in the back of bars, whereas others are out on bail as they battle the costs in court docket.
Critics say the accountability force has been one-sided, disproportionately concentrated on Khan's political opponents, while leaving individuals of his PTI or its allies mostly untouched.
"The [anti-corruption watchdog] looks reluctant in proceeding against individuals on one facet of the political divide […] whereas those on the other aspect are being arrested and incarcerated for months and years devoid of providing any satisfactory trigger," study a Supreme court verdict in a corruption case in July.
final month, the country's leading opposition events, including Sharif's PML-N, the Pakistan americans's celebration (PPP), JUI-F and a number of different smaller corporations launched the Pakistan Democratic flow (PDM) alliance, taking aim at the nation's armed forces for its alleged interference in governance.
Pakistan's militia, at present led by way of military chief customary Qamar Javed Bajwa, has dominated Pakistan for roughly half of its seventy three-12 months historical past, and retains control over colossal features of the nation's overseas and security policies.
under Khan, the military has taken an increasing role in governance, working with the government on economic affairs, the response to the COVID-19 crisis and taking a number one function in managing the $60bn China-Pakistan financial hall (CPEC) assignment.
Khan's competitors allege he become backed by using the military in the 2018 normal election, and that the anti-corruption drive has been used to sideline his opponents, a charge he denies.
within the interview on Thursday, Khan equated the armed forces's accepted takeovers of the country to the "errors" of some people.
"If in the past, a military chief made a mistake, then will we all the time disparage the military always?" he asked. "[The] past is there only to gain knowledge of from. What have we discovered? we have discovered that the militia's job is not to run the executive."
Nawaz Sharif turned into pressured by means of the Supreme court docket to step down as top minister over corruption allegations in 2017, and turned into convicted and sentenced to a jail time period a 12 months later, simply days forward of the everyday election.
In a speech previous this week, Sharif accused former Pakistani intelligence chief Zaheer-ul-Islam of threatening to overthrow his executive in 2014, when Khan turned into main anti-govt protests within the capital, Islamabad.
also on Thursday, Pakistan's media regulator, a govt-run physique, issued orders banning the broadcast of speeches or statements with the aid of those that have been convicted of a crime or are evading arrest – an additional tightening of press freedom under Khan.
international media rights group journalists without borders prices Pakistan 145th out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.
Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera's digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.