Former interior minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar said on Saturday that he is not disgruntled and will remain in the party.
“I am not upset with Nawaz Sharif or the party. I will attend whichever party meeting I am invited to and will stay away when I am not invited,” Nisar told journalists.
He added that he stands with the PML-N, “but not the party which restricts freedom of thought or a party in which having a difference of opinion is a major crime.”
The former interior minister said that while Nawaz Sharif was the leader of the party there were 25 founding members as well, before adding that he was the only founding member who still remained in the PML-N.
He said that after having stayed loyal to the party throughout, he is disliked only because he shared his difference of opinion, adding, that his advice cannot be considered as disloyalty and that he has no plans or ambitions to leave the party.
“I have not demanded any designation or anything from the party. I have been minister thrice,” Nisar said.
Nisar said the press has freedom and it speculates and runs things as it wishes. He said his visit to Shehbaz Sharif's home was misreported; Nisar explained that he enjoyed a personal relationship with the younger Sharif and would call on him everytime he was in Lahore.
He said that when the issue of Panama Leaks surfaced, he had presented his stance before the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the interior minister.
Nisar said that he was among the few leaders who suggested that Nawaz shouldn’t go to the Supreme Court and then after the verdict when the former prime minister turned towards giving critical speeches he had advised against it.
The former interior minister reiterated that he had advised Nawaz to change his tone towards the military and the judiciary.
Nisar said that he left his designation for the sake of his stance.
Nisar minced no words about having severe reservations over the PML-N’s choice of candidates but added that he still went and voted for them.
Nisar, while putting forth his grievance, said that Nawaz and his daughter Maryam had taunted him in their speeches.
He said that despite all his reservations he stayed with the party.
“Someone should tell me when I showed disloyalty to the party?” said the PML-N senior leader.
