• Younger brother enters homecoming fray after Maryam fails to put on impressive show
• Ahsan Iqbal welcomes establishment decision to back off from political arena

LAHORE: PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday declared that party supremo Nawaz Sharif is coming back to Pakistan, not to settle scores with those who toppled his government, but to address the people’s problems.

The former PM apparently took the driver’s seat to mobilise party workers for the much-anticipated Minar-i-Pakistan rally on Oct 21 after Maryam Nawaz could not put up an impressive show at Shahdara a few days ago.

The younger Sharif brother spent several hours in his constituency in the city and addressed three back-to-back gatherings to charge up the supporters. His son, Hamza Shehbaz, and other party leaders like Saad Rafique, Awais Leghari and Javed Latif also spoke at gatherings in various parts of the province with a ‘mission to make Nawaz Sharif’s homecoming historic’.

A party insider claimed that after Sunday’s poor show at Shahdara, Nawaz Sharif had directed his younger brother to enter the fray and spearhead the drive to mobilise workers for his reception at Minar-i-Pakistan.

The party has already announced that the elder Sharif would obtain protective bail ahead of his return and surrender to court in the Al Azizia corruption case after speaking at the Minar-i-Pakistan rally.

Addressing the workers, the former PM said: “The son of this soil is returning on Oct 21, not to take revenge but work for the prosperity of the country. God willing, he will change the destiny of people. Get ready to give him a rousing welcome.”

He made these remarks apparently to clarify his (Nawaz’s) earlier statements that he intended to hold accountability of former generals (Qamar Bajwa and Faiz Hamid) and former judges (Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa) for toppling his government in 2017.

However, PML-N has seemingly deferred the demand for accountability until an “appropriate time”, with Shehbaz Sharif saying they knew who had caused misery to people by sending Mr Nawaz home in 2017. The party has not “forgotten these characters”, he added.

“Nawaz Sharif has left this matter to Allah. On his return to the country on Oct 21, Nawaz will reach Minar-i-Pakistan and leave his matter to Allah. If Pakistan has to be rebuilt then people will have to support Nawaz Sharif,” he said, praising his elder brother’s contributions to the country.

He wondered why the Nawaz government was sent packing despite the fact that it was performing well on every front, be it CPEC, load-shedding or terrorism.

He recalled that PML-N sacrificed politics for the sake of the country. “We came to power after removing Imran Khan only to save the country from default. Had we not signed the agreement with IMF, the country would have defaulted.”

He accused Imran Khan of releasing terrorists from jails, destroying the economy and damaging Pakistan’s relations with friendly countries.

Citing the example of India for its successful moon mission, Shehbaz Sharif said: “See where a neighbouring country has reached and are we… I’m feeling hurt.”

‘Establishment is neutral’

Separately, PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said that the military establishment had become neutral.

“Establishment has decided not to interfere in politics. We should welcome this decision. When the establishment saw that it was facing the brunt of Imran’s follies it decided to step back,” Mr Ahsan told a presser, adding that national institutions needed to work within the constitutional framework.

The PML-N leader further said that Nawaz Sharif would unite the nation.

“Nawaz-like politicians can end polarisation in the country. If he gets a chance to become the prime minister he will make the country economically strong,” he said and added that after winning the polls PML-N would initiate a grand dialogue.

Mr Iqbal said that action should have been taken against Imran Khan when he had attacked the parliament (in 2014).

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2023