Pakistan's former premier Nawaz Sharif has directed his younger brother and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif not to engage in any talks with former premier Imran Khan, who is currently leading a long march to Islamabad demanding snap general elections.
The elder Sharif has been living in London but functioning as the supreme leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the party looks up to him for guidance in key political matters.
In a series of tweets late on Monday, Nawaz Sharif said that Khan frequently claimed to bring a million people to Islamabad but has not yet managed to gather 2,000 people and was desperately looking for a face-saving gesture from the government.
"I have told Shahbaz Sharif that whether he [Imran] brings 2,000 or 20,000 people, neither he [the prime minister] should listen to any demand of this fitna [mischief] nor give him any face-saving, for which he is desperate, the PML-N chief tweeted.
He asked Prime Minister Shehbaz to instead focus all his attention on serving the people of the cash-strapped economy.
He also said that the reason for the indifference of the people towards the long march was that Khan's evil lies had been exposed before the nation.
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He [Imran] told one lie after another so brazenly and stubbornly that the DG ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] was forced to break his silence and tell the nation the truth, which he could not answer even after so many days, he said.
That is why, Nawaz maintained, adding: Imran's all emphasis as usual is on foul language.
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