Pak has survived through difficult times, this too shall pass: Sharif

He said his party campaigned and participated in the elections and did not cry about rigging

Amid mounting pressure from protesters to quit as Pakistan's Prime Minister, a defiant Nawaz Sharif today refused to resign saying the country has survived "difficult times" and the current political crisis too shall pass.

"We have survived difficult times. In the 2008 elections, our hands were tied. But we campaigned and participated, we did not cry about rigging -- and it would have been a legitimate cry," he said in his first major speech since the crisis erupted two weeks ago.

"Because at that time there was a dictator that controlled the government. He held those elections...But we said if PPP has got more seats than us then we will accept that right of the PPP," he said in his address to the National Assembly.