MUZAFFARABAD(National Times)- The PPP and the PML-N continued lambasting each other on Saturday, extending their rhetoric from the ongoing elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to the other party\u2019s previous tenures in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PPP and the PML-N \u2014 coalition partners in the Centre \u2014 have been engaged in a war of words since the PML-N emerged as the winner in the elections in AJK\u2019s Mirpur division. The PPP has accused the PML-N of rigging in Mirpur and demanded re-polling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The political temperatures remain heated as the second phase of AJK elections is set to be held tomorrow in nine constituencies of Muzaffarabad division. The third phase is scheduled for August 10 in all 12 refugee constituencies, and 11 constituencies of Poonch division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the latest exchange, PML-N senior leader Rana Sanaullah remarked on President Asif Ali Zardari\u2019s role as he responded to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari\u2019s allegations of rigging in the 2024 general elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you call the votes secured by the prime minister votes of Forms-47, then on what forms has the president gotten votes on?\u201d Sanaullah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Bilawal had taken a direct jibe at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, saying: \u201cIf someone is sitting on the PM\u2019s seat, or someone is sitting on the CM\u2019s position today, even a child knows that it is not because of the people\u2019s votes or your performance but because of Form-47.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanaullah, also the prime minister\u2019s aide on political affairs and a federal minister, was addressing a gathering in Jhelum Valley alongside Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanaullah further said: \u201cIf you say to Mian Nawaz Sharif that he became the prime minister for the first time or every time through rigging, [\u2026] then remember, it is also discussed here that someone also became the prime minister for the first time after breaking apart the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was referring to PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who became the president of Pakistan in December 1971 after the secession of Bangladesh (then-East Pakistan) following the 1970 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In August 1973, Bhutto took the oath as the prime minister in 1973 under the new Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanaullah also took a jibe at Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, whose recent remarks have sparked a fresh debate in political circles on the matter of creating new provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calling Naqvi a \u201cblessed one\u201d of President Zardari, the PML-N leader said the interior minister had \u201cmade the [political] journey of 30 years in three-and-a-half years\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou began from where and have now reached where, and now you realise that this system is completely dysfunctional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his speech, Muqam criticised the PPP\u2019s governance in Sindh, saying that no performance of the party could be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also said the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) \u2014 a scheme that the PPP often takes credit for launching \u2014 was not \u201canyone\u2019s personal programme but the government\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier on Saturday, PPP leader Saeed Ghani alleged that the PML-N had never won a general election without rigging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This followed a press briefing by Punjab\u2019s education and sports ministers, where they said that the chief ministers of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had nothing to show for their performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PML-N never won an election without rigging: Ghani
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Ghani said, \u201cThe PPP did not secure power through rigging in any of the elections held till today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn the other hand, however many times the PML-N has secured power, it has not been without rigging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PPP leader Saeed Ghani addresses a press conference in Karachi on Aug 1, 2026. \u2014 DawnNewsTV
Ghani, also the Sindh labour minister, made the allegation as he responded to a PML-N member calling on the PPP to not \u201cgive lectures on democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you do not want to give the PPP the right to speak on democracy, then will you give it to Gen Musharraf or Gen Zia, or the leaders created by them?\u201d he quipped, referring to the two former military dictators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PPP leader said he \u201cdid count the 1985 election\u201d, alleging that PML-N supremo and ex-premier Nawaz Sharif \u201cconspired\u201d against ex-prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further claimed that his party \u201cbecame a target of rigging\u201d in the 1988 and 1990 elections, which resulted in the PML-N winning. He went on to allege that the PPP was again \u201ccontrolled and prevented from forming a government in Punjab\u201d in 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghani alleged that the PPP was restricted to \u201c16-17 seats\u201d in the 1997 general elections, when Nawaz\u2019s PML-N again formed the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He contended that although the PPP secured power in 2008, the \u201cPML-N was made to win seats, especially in Punjab, through rigging during Musharraf\u2019s tenure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghani claimed that the PML-N was \u201cmade to win\u201d the 2013 elections as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen the elections in 2024 [took place]. No matter how many times they say, everyone, even children, know that the PML-N was badly defeated in the elections,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PPP leader alleged that Nawaz, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz \u201clost their own seats and then blame us\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghani made the remarks after explaining the rationale for his party\u2019s stances on new provinces in Sindh and Punjab, stressing that it was based on the wishes of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He emphasised that the Constitution required any such move to be made through the elected representatives in the provincial assembly concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that the \u201cpeople of Sindh, its representatives and its assembly say there is no need for further provinces in Sindh\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, Ghani pointed out, the Punjab Assembly and the Senate had passed resolutions over a decade ago calling for two new provinces in Punjab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the people and the elected representatives of Sindh say that there is no need for any new province in Sindh, then no one in Punjab has the right to say whether there should be a new province in Sindh or not,\u201d Ghani asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He went on to stress that the PPP advocated for more provinces in Punjab as the \u201cpeople of Punjab and their elected representatives\u201d desired that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PPP leader emphasised that his party \u201crepresented\u201d the citizens of each of the provinces when taking a stance for Sindh and Punjab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the outset of his press conference, Ghani also took exception to comments made by \u201ctwo ministers\u201d, saying it seemed that they \u201cdid not know anything about Sindh\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are restricted within a circle called Maryam Nawaz. They only see and say what she tells them, shows them and explains to them,\u201d he said in an apparent reference to the Punjab ministers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MUZAFFARABAD(National Times)- The PPP and the PML-N continued lambasting each other on Saturday, extending their rhetoric from the ongoing elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to the other party\u2019s previous tenures in power. The PPP and the PML-N \u2014 coalition partners in the Centre \u2014 have been engaged in a war of words since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n