Pakistan MP Sharif condemns anti-government protests

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today criticised his political rivals for going ahead with their plans to hold anti-government protests and promised that he will resist any move to topple his government formed through people’s mandate. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and Canada-returned anti-government cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have announced to bring their thousands of supporters in the capital on Thursday to remove Sharif’s year-and-a-half old government. [caption id=“attachment_1659381” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nawaz Sharif. AFP[/caption] Qadri yesterday announced that his ‘Revolution March’ would go along with Khan’s ‘Freedom March’ on 14 August to send the Sharif government home. The fiery cleric is fighting for a “revolution” while Khan is protesting against alleged rigging in the last year polls. Sharif, addressing the launch of the Vision 2025 programme here, criticised the timing of the rallies and said Qadri and Khan should have protested before the elections. “The runaway from Canada should have participated in the 2013 general elections if he wanted to bring a revolution in Pakistan,” he said about Qadri, who holds dual nationality. Also attacking Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Sharif said he should have held his ‘Azadi March’ during the general elections and not a year after the polls. The Prime Minister, however, expressed readiness to address Khan’s concerns over alleged rigging of last year polls through talks. He said he was ready to meet him anywhere. Sharif said he will resist any move to topple his government which was formed for five years through the mandate of the people. Promising “to defend democracy”, he lamented that some politicians have not learnt from the past when the country faced military rulers. PTI