'Neither India, nor US behind Pakistan's woes', Nawaz Sharif blames army establishment

livemint.com:

India nor the US were behind the cash-strapped country's miseries but "we shot ourselves in our own foot", indirectly referring to the powerful military establishment for its woes. During a conversation with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket aspirants here, the party supremo, who is eying to become prime minister for a record fourth time, pointed out that he was ousted from power three times in 1993, 1999 and 2017. “Today where Pakistan has reached (in terms of the state of the economy) this is not done by India, the US or even Afghanistan.

In fact, we shot ourselves in our own foot...they (a reference to the military) imposed a selected (government) on this nation by rigging the 2018 polls that led to the sufferings of the people and downfall of the economy," Sharif said. The 73-year-old leader castigated the judges for legitimising military dictators. “The judges garland them (military dictators) and legitimise their rule when they break the Constitution.

When it comes to a prime minister the judges stamp his ouster. The judges also approve the act of dissolution of the parliament...why?" he asked. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo lashed out at former ISI chief Gen Faiz Hamid for his role in ousting him from power in 2017.

“A case has been opened in the Supreme Court against those (Faiz Hamid and others) who had said that if Nawaz came out of jail their two-year hard work would be wasted," he said. The PML-N leader, who returned to the country from London in October ending a four-year-long self-imposed exile, is the only Pakistani politician who became the prime minister of the coup-prone country for a record three times. On Monday, Nawaz said that in 1999, "I was prime minister in the morning and in