ISLAMABAD: On Monday, when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was attending a corruption reference in an accountability court of Islamabad, his younger brother and president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shahbaz Sharif was taking oath as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) in the Parliament House.
All 82 MNAs of the PML-N (64 elected on general seats, 16 on reserved seats for women and two minorities) — present in the National Assembly burst into a thunderous applause as Shahbaz Sharif’s name was called by the secretary of the National Assembly for signing the attendance register.
They raised slogans repeatedly saying “Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif.”
Shahbaz Sharif, wearing a suit, walked briskly to the Speaker’s rostrum, signed the attendance register shook hands with outgoing Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq and returned to his seat.
However, before returning to his seat he did not forget to shake hands with chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and former opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah.
Responding to a question from journalists about the future of the newly-inaugurated National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif said: "Let’s see what will happen."
To another question, he said there was no difference between his views and that of Nawaz Sharif’s. “Our narrative is the same, who says we have two different narratives,” said Shahbaz Sharif. He said Nawaz Sharif is in high spirits in jail.
About PML-N’s role as an opposition party in the National Assembly, he said his party would play an active role in the Assembly. Our politics will be issue-based and not merely for the sake of opposition, he said.
Talking to Gulf News, former information minister and PML-N leader Mariam Aurangzeb said Pakistan Muslim League has decided to become part of the parliament only to highlight Election Commission’s inefficiency in holding free, fair and transparent elections.
"We call upon the Election Commission to tell the nation why Result Transmission System failed particularly in those constituencies where PML-N candidates were winning. We shall also raise this issue in the parliament."
