Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has criticised protests and long marches, saying past demonstrations in Islamabad disrupted the country’s development.
Addressing a parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sharif referred to the 2014 protests at D-Chowk in Islamabad, saying the sit-in continued for several months and led to the postponement of a visit by China’s president to Pakistan.
Sharif also criticised the previous government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying that instead of supporting the federal government and Pakistan’s security forces in the fight against terrorism, some political figures had resorted to protests and abusive language. He said greater support should be given to the police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), and accused the political leadership of failing to speak out against militants or show sufficient sympathy for the families of those killed.
