Shahbaz Sharif has 'asked for a deal for four people', Gill claims
"However much of a deal and leeway you had to be provided, you have been," Shahbaz Gill tells the Sharifs
January 16, 2022
- Shahbaz Gill claims Shahbaz Sharif has asked for a deal for himself, his son Hamza, Nawaz, and his daughter Maryam.
- PM's aide claims the request is for Shahbaz and the children to be allowed to go to London; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will stay.
- Gill says "however much of a deal and leeway you had to be provided, you have been".
- PML-N's Talal Chaudhry says it is Nawaz Sharif who will "never give any breathing room to this fake government".
FAISALABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill on Sunday claimed that Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif has "asked for a deal for four people" of his family.
Addressing a media conference in the city, Gill said to the Sharifs: "However much of a deal and leeway you had to be provided, you have been."
Further addressing the Sharifs, he said that it is "not as if you are out on a shopping trip, that you are seeking a deal".
Gill said that the Sharif family will never be given a deal. "You have Imran Khan standing in your way," he said. "He did not let go of them when he was in the Opposition, how will he let go of them now?" he added.
Speaking of the particulars of the so-called "deal", Gill claimed that it is sought for Nawaz, his daughter Maryam, Shahbaz, and his son Hamza. He went on to claim that the request is for the latter three individuals to be allowed to go to London, whereas Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will stay.
"We won't even give you a boiled potato, and here you are asking for a chicken burger deal," he remarked, adding: "The Sharif family is asking for a burger deal which also includes a toy."
Gill claimed that he met Nawaz thrice while he was hospitalised in Pakistan, and that the PML-N supremo "would plead to be let go".
The premier's aide said that the government seeks to bring back Nawaz, who is currently residing in London after travelling there to seek medical treatment in November 2019. He claimed that Nawaz is "being put on a plane and sent here" and that he will "go to jail when he arrives".
He added: "Soon you will see Shahbaz Sharif behind bars."
"This is the last plea that Shahbaz has made — an offer consisting of four people, and the promise that even Maryam won't engage in politics," said Gill.
The PM's aide said that now, politics in Pakistan will see a clean competition between one vote and another, instead of the use of dirty tactics.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry in a separate media briefing also spoke about the Sharif family, claiming that there is a "race" underway among four leading members.
"When the four big leaders went to meet 'someone', they said that 'Nawaz Sharif did not do right by the country, why don't you consider us?'," the minister claimed further.
The two PTI leaders, however, have not been the first to recently speak of "four Sharifs". On Friday, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that "all four members" of the Sharif family can consider themselves "subtracted" from Pakistan's politics.
Although the interior minister did not specify who exactly these four members are, he was likely referring to the four Sharifs who have remained active as politicians, namely, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz, of which the first two were disqualified to hold public office in 2017.
Ahmed said: "They want that the hand of mercy that was placed on the head of Prime Minister Imran Khan be placed on their heads. That hand may well end up on their necks, but never their heads."
PML-N responds
In response to Gill's remarks, PML-N's Talal Chaudhry said that it is Nawaz Sharif who will "never give any breathing room to this fake government".
"Look at where the country stands. Neither does the poor man have bread to eat, nor does our nation have any honour," Chaudhry said.
"The hand of mercy that was on your head, is now at the feet of Nawaz Sharif," the PML-N leader claimed.
Chaudhry went on to remark: "They can scarcely run the government and yet have the gall to spin such tales."
PML-N's Rana Sanaullah, on the other hand, responded to Fawad Chaudhry, saying that what the information minister said was akin to someone resorting to such measures when they have nothing else, referring to a Punjabi saying which he said would be inappropriate to say on air.
Sanaullah was speaking on Geo News show "Naya Pakistan", where he went on to ask Chaudhry to speak openly and name the four people he claims went to meet "someone" and also name that "someone".
"The PML-N categorically denies talk of such deals; it has not been its tradition to do so, and nor has there now been any party decision of this sort," Sanaullah said.
He also refuted reports of any meeting between Nawaz and anyone else on the subject. "No meeting has taken place with Mian sahab," he said firmly.
The PML-N leader added: "We have no need for such deals."
"If they have such intimate knowledge of who met whom, then why the need to speak so cryptically? Why not be straight about it?" he asked.
Sanaullah said that such statements popping up from the government's side are a reflection of how they need such narratives to "prop up their image" which has inherently become "very weak".
"Their people no longer wish to contest elections on their (PTI's) tickets, even if we do not give them a ticket," the PML-N leader claimed.
