LAHORE
\nDr Syed Asif Kirmani, the former political secretary of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, voicing strong opinion about the current state of the party, has said that members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have infiltrated the ranks of the N-League, adding that these individuals \u201cdo not represent the true face of the PML-N\u201d.
\nKirmani, in a surprise statement on Saturday, announced quitting the PML-N, criticising the top leadership of the ruling party. He said he had already distanced himself from the political affairs of the Nawaz-led party for a long time.
\nThe former N-League veteran quit the party over differences with the top party leadership\u2019s decision to form a government following the February 8 general election despite rigging allegations.
\nSharing his insights in an interview with Geo News on Sunday, he expressed concerns about the calibre of current party members holding key positions, also describing them as \u201cnon-serious and incompetent\u201d.
\n\u201cIt seems Nawaz Sharif has been rendered helpless,\u201d the former politico claimed. \u201cThis is not the same Nawaz Sharif I once knew.\u201d
\nDespite his departure, the PML-N\u2019s deserter stressed he still maintains his respect for Nawaz, saying: \u201cI respected Nawaz Sharif in the past, and I respect him now as well.\u201d
\nThe former PML-N leader said he gave almost 19 to 20 years to the party and remained a close associate of Nawaz, adding that they have left a \u201cloyal companion behind\u201d.
\nReflecting on his decision to part ways with the party, he admitted: \u201cIt was painful leaving my home.\u201d He also called on the PML-N supremo to engage with the general public to have an idea of what they are going through. \u201cMian Sahib, everything is not alright. Come out, [mingle with people] and see for yourself.\u201d
\nResponding to a query about his future political plans, Dr Kirmani insisted that he was not joining any political party, adding he was a \u201cborn PML-N supporter\u201d and wished to die as a member of the PML-N family\u201d.
\nKirmani was appointed by then-prime minister Nawaz as his political secretary during his rule in 2013. Being a close aide of the three-time PM, he played an active role during the PML-N\u2019s election campaign before the party rose to power in 2013.
\nMoreover, Abbas Khan Afridi also called it quits last month, claiming that the party\u2019s president Nawaz was \u201cno longer relevant in the country\u2019s politics\u201d.
\nSimilarly, senior PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair, ex-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail had left the ruling party in recent months.
\nAbbasi and Ismail had launched a new political party, Awaam Pakistan, earlier this month which was joined by several former PML-N leaders including Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi, Javed Abbasi, Syed Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Rana Zahid Tauseef, Zahid Binnouri, and Sardar Anwar Soomro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Dr Syed Asif Kirmani, the former political secretary of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, voicing strong opinion about the current state of the party, has said that members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have infiltrated the ranks of the N-League, adding that these individuals \u201cdo not represent the true face …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67596,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67566\/revisions\/67596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}