Nawaz Sharif blames 2017’s Pakistan's military establishment for his ouster then

Lahore: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday again blamed the powerful military establishment for orchestrating his removal from office in 2017 though the current ruling dispensation led by his party post the February 8 polls is reported to have blessings of the current military bosses.

The 74-year-old three-time prime minister has gone into a low profile after his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister of a six-party coalition government after none of them could secure good numbers in last month's general election.

Nawaz returned to Pakistan after ending a four-year self-exile in the UK last October. The incumbent military establishment was considered to be with his party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), and therefore, Nawaz was considered the most favourite for the premier's slot then.

However, the results of the February general elections shattered his dream of donning the hat of premiership for the fourth time.

“Had my government not been sent home in 2017, Pakistan would have progressed leaps and bounds,” Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

Referring to former army chief Gen (R) Qamar Javed Bajwa, he said those who ousted him and seized power, did wrong to Pakistan. “Not only my party but Pakistan suffered by their (the then military establishment) action. Now, we have to work hard to put the country back on the road to progress,” he said.

Talking to a group of provincial lawmakers, Nawaz Sharif asked them to help his daughter -- first woman chief minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz -- in running the province of over 120 million people effectively.

Before coming to power, Nawaz had vowed to bring to justice those former generals and judges who toppled his government “illegally.” His close aide and incumbent Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently said the parliament should summon Gen Bajwa and former ISI chief Lt-Gen (R) Faiz Hamid and Imran Khan and quiz them on their role for toppling the Nawaz government in 2017 and the economic disaster that followed after his ouster.

However, some lawmakers of the PML-N of the Shehbaz camp have started targeting Asif for his uncalled-for demand.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan has already termed the February polls as the “mother of all rigging,” in which he claimed the military establishment imposed “mandate thieves” led by Shehbaz Sharif on the nation.

The PTI has been protesting against the alleged rigging that deprived it of a two-thirds majority in the Centre and Punjab province.