Nawaz conducted N-tests despite immense int’l pressure: Saad

Lahore : Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq Sunday said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif carried out nuclear tests on May 28, 1998 by utilising power of vote despite immense pressure from the world powers.

Addressing a Youm-e-Takbeer ceremony here, he said some new entrants to politics were levelling allegations against the Pakistan Muslim League-N leadership.

Saad said Nawaz Sharif had to pay price for the nuclear tests in the form of exile and his party was also damaged by dividing it into factions.

Nawaz Sharif, he said, was not the first prime minister,who was punished, there were some other prime ministers in the history who were also sentenced for the same reason, he added.

He cited the example of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who also fell victim in the past. Benazir Bhutto had also to stay in exile even, he said.

Saad said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan was playing with fire. “In fact, he is cutting the same branch of the tree on which he is sitting,” he added.

The PML-N leadership had been listening to Imran Khan’s derogatory words for years but never replied to him, he said, adding that such ‘newly born politicians’ were in fact harming the national politics.

He said like nuclear explosions, the prime minister had taken a decision to conduct another blast and that would pertain to economy.

The minister said the PML-N was being targeted under an agenda and many people, both in the country and abroad, were feeling ill due to the economic growth of the country.

It was an open secret that how many megawatts of electricity were generated in Punjab and how many in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during the past four years, he added.

He said peace had returned to Karachi as terrorism had been eliminated from the economic hub of the country. The civil-military leaderships were on the same page, he added.

The minister said Asif Ali Zardari arrival in Punjab was, in fact, benefiting the Pakistan Muslim League-N.