Rana Sanaullah, Punjab President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Interior Minister, has stated that the party will begin its election preparations on Friday (today) and will run candidates in each Punjabi constituency.
He said the PML-N has good organisation at the division, district, and union council levels in the Punjab province while speaking to a press conference at the party secretariat in Model Town. According to him, the purpose of the party gathering was to review the agenda for the 2018 general election, which included fielding PML-N candidates in every Punjab and National Assembly constituency. The PML-N will run candidates in 297 Punjab Assembly and 141 NA constituencies in the province, he continued.
The minister said that the PML-N was the creator party of Pakistan, which had covered a long journey, from creation of the country to stabilising it on strong footing.
Rana Sanaullah said that PML-N supermo Nawaz Sharif, by conducting the nuclear tests on May 28, 1998, had fulfilled the dream of Pakistan’s stability, asserting that the party had always steered the country out of crises. In 1999, after the country became a nuclear power, the whole world created problems for Pakistan by imposing sanctions on it; then it was only Nawaz Sharif who steered the country out of those crises, he added.
The minister said that if October 12, 1999 adventure [Musharraf martial law] had not happened, today Pakistan would have been a developed country and there would have been no unemployed people in the country, saying that when Pakistan was going to become an Asian tiger, the country was pushed into crisis under a conspiracy by punishing the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif.
The minister said that the PML-N government had overcome various challenges, faced by the country including terrorism and power outage just in four years, but then again Nawaz Sharif was punished for steering the country out of crises, saying that it was, in fact, enmity with the country.
After 2017, an ‘element’ was launched to divide and poison the country’s politics again like in 1999, due to which the country’s development process was stopped. It also brought the country closer to default, he said and added that Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ‘s government, under the guidance of Nawaz Sharif, brought the country out of crises in a short time span of one year.
“We promise that after the success in the upcoming elections, we will continue working for development of the country. We will overcome inflation, increase people’s income, resolve their issues and ensure supremacy of the law. We will provide a better future for the youth and promote tolerance,” Rana Sanaullah added.
He said that the PML-N hoped that this time, there would be no conspiracy against Nawaz Sharif so that the country could continue the journey of development, adding that the PML-N did not believe in revenge and hatred, but taking the country towards development.
The minister said that the PML-N would not compromise on its winning candidates, asserting that in 2018, the PML-N tickets were got returned from the candidates, but it still contested elections and established itself as a political party.
Responding to a query, Rana Sanaullah said that the action against individuals and groups involved in May 9 incidents was not a political revenge. He said action should be taken against those according to the laws of the country. Apart from those responsible for the incidents of May 9, no action was being taken against anyone else.
Regarding the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, he said the relevant institutions were continuing their investigation, adding that matters were in progress. He said some miscreants had been caught so far, while the masterminds of May 9 would also be brought to book.
The minister said that in the upcoming elections, people would decide who had done what for the country in the past, and then it would be easy for them to choose the right leadership. The PML-N parliamentary party would decide about prime ministerial or chief ministerial candidate, whereas Nawaz Sharif’s consultation would be mandatory in this regard, he added.
To a question, he said that political dialogue had been continued for a whole year, but one political party had refused to engage in the talks process, saying that the PML-N, after coming to power again, would steer the country out of all crises besides taking action against those who rigged the 2018 elections.
Later, Rana Sanaullah also chaired the PML-N Punjab party meeting, which was attended by party’s senior leader Pervaiz Rasheed, Anusha Rehman and others.
During the meeting, it was decided that lists would be sought from all party organisations about the party candidates in all constituencies. The meeting also decided to field the PML-N candidates in each and every constituency, and finalise preparations to accord a warm welcome to party supermo Muhammad Nawaz Sharif upon his arrival in the country.
