Pakistan’s Opposition leader Imran Khan on Thursday took a dig at former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s defiant roadshow from Islamabad to Lahore, terming it a “Corruption Bachao” rally.
Mr. Sharif (67), embarked on a roadshow from Islamabad to his ruling party’s stronghold Lahore yesterday in a show of strength ahead of the crucial general elections next year.
The roadshow via the iconic Grand Trunk Road, which links a large part of South Asia from Bangladesh to Afghanistan, came despite security threats and drew thousands of Sharif supporters on their way to the provincial capital of Punjab.
“My advice to NS [Nawaz Sharif] on his Corruption Bachao rally: You can blame the umpires, the pitch, the weather, some of your players.. but in the end you can’t avoid the sinking feeling that the game is over and you have lost,” Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a tweet.
“... And you will also realise there is a downward trend in the number of people listening to your excuses of poor umpiring,” Mr. Khan said in another tweet.
Mr. Sharif undertook the roadshow despite massive security concerns and told party leaders that it was vital to speak to supporters about the circumstances under which he was ousted.
“Speaking from a bulletproof car doesn’t inspire confidence in already-dwindling crowds. If you fear death you shdnt undertake ‘ppl’s’ rallies,” Mr. Khan said.
A five-member apex bench in the Panama Papers case verdict had found Mr. Sharif “unfit to hold office” on July 28.
The bench ruled that he had been “dishonest to the parliament and the courts in not disclosing his employment in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his 2013 nomination papers.”
