LAHORE: Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Tuesday challenged the opposition leaders to stop, if they can, Nawaz Sharif (from winning the Senate election) by resorting to their last trick of quitting assemblies within the next 24 hours.

“You have 24 hours left to apply the scheme. Submit your resignations. But you will not be able to stop Nawaz Sharif even by this way,” he said while talking to newsmen outside the Punjab Assembly.

“You cannot imagine the street power of Nawaz Sharif. You cannot stop him, his public support will sweep away every hurdle in his way. Stopping Nawaz Sharif will entail very negative consequences,” he said.

The law minister said Nawaz’s public support as reflected in his recent meetings in Faisalabad and Jaranwala was unprecedented. “I have never seen such support in the past. Do you know the power of Nawaz Sharif’s public support,” he asked the opposition.

He termed the ouster of Nawaz Sharif and his disqualification a conspiracy against Pakistan and its forward march, its fight against terrorism, its struggle to emerge as Asian Tiger and overcome power loadshedding.

The people, he reiterated, now fully knew who was behind such conspiracies and who through Panama issue sabotaged national economy in July (through the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif).

The people of Punjab, especially Lahore, had totally rejected these elements, he said, referring to the thinly- attended rallies of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri.

He asked Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Imran Khan and “some politicians from Karachi” with ‘respect’ to adopt “fair politics” and work for the welfare of the nation and the country and strengthen democracy and the parliament.

He “praised” Tahirul Qadri for what he said always realising the failure of his strategy as he did so after the failure of his Islamabad sit-in. He said now Mr Qadri had seen the futility of his protest campaign much earlier than his friends and postponed further agitation.

“You have failed, please prepare for the next general elections,” he asked the opposition parties.

He said Asif Zardari was different from the PPP that was a “democracy-loving party”.

There were suspicions of horse trading on three Senate seats in the previous elections, he said, adding Mr Zardari could manage two seats this time too.

The minister severely criticised Imran Khan for “exploiting” the Zainab case in Punjab and the murder of Naquibullah Mehsood in Karachi, saying the PTI chief was ignoring the murders of Mishal Khan, Asma Rani and Asma of Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where his party rules. He alleged the main suspects in all these cases were PTI local leaders who escaped. He asked Imran why he did not visit the families of the victims.

He said corruption cases against Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi family should be investigated on merit.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2018