JARANWALA: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, while addressing a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) power show in Jaranwala, galvanised his supporters for the upcoming elections as he slammed his political opponents.
Alluding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Nawaz said his party will push its “political opponents hard” in 2018, so they are not seen again.
“You elected me as the prime minister so how can someone else announce my ouster,” he said, adding that whether his disqualification was for five years or life, no one could affect his relationship with the public.
“The public’s decision will be the final decision.”
“There is another petition in the court to get me removed from party presidentship, but will you accept such a decision?” he inquired from the rally participants.
Referring to his movement for the supremacy of justice, Nawaz said, “I speak about the movement of justice today, which will ensure that a person will not have to deal with cases against their grandfather.”
The PML-N president also touched upon the reasons for his ouster, a recurring theme in his recent rallies.
“Is it a crime to not draw a salary from your son?” Nawaz questioned the attendees of the rally. “I was ousted because of this crime.”
“I came to the public’s court to get justice,” he said. “I see the same spirit here in Jaranwala that I saw when I got out to seek the public’s support on the Grand Trunk (GT) Road.”
He reminded the people that he had promised Jaranwala to construct a motorway.
“Raise your hands and tell me, did I not fulfill my promise?” he said. “Nawaz Sharif always fulfills his promises.”
Nawaz further stressed that he ended the power outages in the country during his tenure.
“I recall the time when we conducted the nuclear tests in 1999,” he said. “Pakistan was on the way to become the Asian tiger, its economy was growing, but Musharraf ruined Pakistan’s bright prospects by imposing martial law.”
During his address, Nawaz also said that the country was faced with rampant terrorism and power outages when the PML-N government took charge in 2013.
“We made efforts to counter these challenges and were successful to a certain extent,” he said. “But today, Pakistan is being looked at with malicious intentions again.”
The PML-N president claimed that he had told former US president Barrack Obama that drone attacks in Pakistan were not acceptable.
“I told Obama that Pakistan is a sovereign state and drone attacks would not be tolerated, and do you not remember that during my tenure those attacks had stopped,” he reminded the public of Jaranwala.
Nawaz reminded the public that they elected him as the prime minister and their vote’s sanctity should not be targetted.
‘Will fight for rights of people’
Maryam Nawaz took the stage prior to Nawaz’s address and implored the rally’s attendees to rise up against the injustices in Pakistan.
“Do you accept a Pakistan where the public’s vote has the lowest worth,” questioned Maryam.
Maryam Nawaz addressed the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) power show in Jaranwala.
“Are you willing to accept a Pakistan in which an elected prime minister attends court summons, along with his daughter, but dictators such as Musharraf pay no heed to the court,” she said.
Taking a jibe at political opponent Imran Khan, she asked the attendees if they were willing to accept a Pakistan where the judiciary was biased toward a ‘ladlaa‘ (favourite).
“After God, the public’s court holds the most power,” she said, stressing that the public should support her “unjustly” ousted father in his journey for justice.
Maryam urged Jaranwala’s public to rise and punish the ‘conspiring pawns.’
“We will continue to fight the battle for the right of people,” she said.
The preparations for the rally were completed earlier in the day. completed. A 120×10 feet stage was set up with PML-N banners and posters placed at different locations.
Party workers and supporters gathered at the rally site amid strict security measures taken by local law enforcement.
Maryam also shared a video of their drive to Jaranwala, with supporters crowding on roads to welcome them.
She wrote: “Both sides of the road to Jaranwala crowded with people out on the streets to welcome MNS. Amazing spectacle Masha’Allah.”
Before the rally, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique shared on social media that the lion’s roar will echo in Jaranwala today.
“Even a thousand crocodiles cannot fight one lion,” he wrote in the tweet.
In another tweet, he wished luck to Tallal Chaudhry and Nawaz Sharif.
‘PML-N built motorway in KP’
On January 20, deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif criticised his opponents and made many promises while addressing a party rally in Haripur.
He said the people had rejected the politics of allegations practised by his opponents, in an apparent reference to political opponent PTI.
Criticising PTI further, Nawaz asked what had the party done for the province of KP where it was in power, highlighting that it was, in fact, the PML-N which constructed a motorway connecting the province with Punjab to improve the standard of living for the people.
“Did you see their show three days ago? Their politics have been rejected by the people,” said Nawaz referring to the opposition’s joint rally in Lahore’s Mall road area.
Referring to PTI Chairperson Imran Khan cursing the parliament, Nawaz said: “he curses the same assembly for which he contests elections and draws a salary from”.
He added that “the man abused and accused everyone when he cursed the parliament”.
“I salute those judges who termed him sadiq and ameen.” Nawaz further said he [Imran] had admitted to owning an offshore company and other offences but was still let off by the judges.
Speaking of his disqualification, the former prime minister said justice should not be biased and should be the same for all. “The scales of justice should be even for all.”
He also said the sanctity of the vote should be respected and the choice of the people should not be “torn apart”.
