... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...insinuated that the state had emboldened the attacker to execute his plans.
A video showing the distribution of money to protesters after the Faizabad sit-in was called off.
Blaming the incident on the state's capitulation to Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) following the Faizabad sit-in and subsequent standoff with security forces in Islamabad last year, Sharif said: "This is the result of the distribution of Rs1,000 to the protesters. If the protesters had not been given Rs1,000 each, perhaps this day would not have come."
He was referring to an infamous incident, also captured on video, wherein representatives of the armed forces had handed out Rs1,000 cheques to protesters as the latter dispersed following the November 2017 dharna spearheaded by the TLP.
The TLP had protested for more than 20 days at Islamabad's Faizabad Interchange to have changes made to the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act 2017 reversed.
The agitation had ended after the PML-N government failed to dislodge the protesters and launched a botched operation which eventually failed and forced the state to capitulate.
The government ended up conceding to nearly all of the TLP's demands ‐ including the dropping of all cases against the protesters, who had at times turned violent and destroyed public property.
The army had played mediator between both parties, and the army chief was thanked in writing for the "special efforts" that led to the agreement.