Islamabad, 16 Aug, 2023 (GNP): The outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated on Tuesday that the amendments made to the Official Secret Act were intended to secure the lives of intelligence officials and not aimed to “target any political party.”
Shehbaz Sharif said in his last interview before leaving the post of PM at the end of his tenure that the objectives behind those amendments were not to cut back the civil liberties but to shield the identification of security officials, whose lives were at stake while investigating the terrorists.
He expressed, “I don’t think these laws would be against my party or anyone … I don’t see any serious concern in this regard.”
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The former premier also denounced his political competitor Imran Khan but said that he has no personal grudges against him. He asserted, “victimization is not in [his] dictionary” and criticized Khan for mistreating political opponents when he was in power.
Moreover, he commented, “We were treated shabbily and the jail manual was violated when Khan was PM. We were terribly victimized. But we don’t believe in tit for tat … Relevant institutions, courts and rule of law would take its own course in Khan’s [legal case].”
Shehbaz declared that his forerunner “twisted facts” on the cipher sent by the ambassador to the US of that time, Asad Majeed Khan.
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However, the outgoing prime minister said that there was no hint of any conspiracy in the diplomatic cable to overthrow the government of Khan or bring the PDM alliance into power.
“[I]t is very unbecoming of any political, serious-minded leader to indulge in this kind of black and white lies. Khan said he had the [cable] but he had lost it. Now it has been published on a website,” he added.
Furthermore, regarding the chances of a ban over the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shehbaz said, “I really don’t know. It is all up to the court to decide. Personally, I don’t want any political party to be banned.”
