LAHORE - Denying any wrongdoing by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership, PML-N central leader Ahsan Iqbal has said the Pakistan People’s Party has stooped to maligning the Sharifs to fend off public wrath, due for its corruption, in the upcoming election.

“The hands of PML-N leadership are clean and they will remain so no matter if the PPP propaganda machinery concocts plots (against it),” he told the media Wednesday.
“It doesn’t matter if the probe against them is conducted by a commission, comprising Asif Ali Zardari, Rahman Malik, Pervaiz Elahi, Imran Khan or Qamar Zaman Kaira – all will fail against the PML-N leadership,” Ahsan said.
The PPP propaganda cannot turn eyes of the people from its corruption and bad governance, he said, adding that the federal government was misinterpreting the Supreme Court judgment on the Asghar Khan case to serve its vested interest.
Terming the decision vital for democracy in Pakistan, Ahsan said his party wholeheartedly accepted the decision and the observations made therein for holding investigations according to the law and the Constitution.
He said the politics of Nawaz Sharif and his party was a chapter of 20-year struggle against the third force and the PML-N leadership had bore the brunt of its fight against agencies’ role in politics in the shape of 10-year exile after the Musharraf coup in 1999.
“It is an open secret that Nawaz Sharif was penalised for taking an uncompromising stance against former president Pervez Musharraf and refused to strike a deal with him under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). Moreover, Musharraf made several attempts to meet Nawaz to lure him into the doctored democracy,” Ahsan added.
Recalling the Charter of Democracy (CoD), he said: “The constitution of a truth and reconciliation commission was agreed upon by the PPP and the PML-N to look into the role of the third force in derailing democracy in the past. But, the panel was not set up despite repeated demands of the PML-N.
“The PPP-Establishment link is known to the masses as they are well aware who kick-started politics under Sikandar Mirza and Ayub Khan and refused to accept the elections results in 1970 after joining hands with generals.”
He also mentioned the PPP’s maneuver into the dictatorship in 1977 and bowing to the military rule in 1988. “Former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan conspired and toppled the Nawaz Sharif-led government and later made Asif Ali Zardari minister in his cabinet. General (r) Asad Durrani was made Pakistan Ambassador to Germany and Mirza Aslam Beg was awarded Tamgha-e-Jamhooriat by the PPP government,” Ahsan recalled.
He said the PPP had been plotting against the PML-N because the ruling party wanted to secure another year to prolong its rule. However, the PML-N leader said his party would not let the PPP materialise its dream. “We will not let the PPP escape elections that will expose this party,” he said.
He raised the demand for end to political activity in the presidency, saying: “If the PPP accepts the SC decision in the Ashgar Khan case, it should shun political activity in the presidency.”