GUJRAT: After PML-N launched its election campaign from Okara earlier this week, party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif made his first appearance on the campaign trail on Thursday, vowing to make Pakistan “stand on its feet again”.

Addressing a public gathering in Hafizabad — where he arrived in a helicopter from Lahore — organised at the sports stadium, the former prime minister said it was his mission to revive the economy and end unemployment. “Had I not been removed, not one person in Hafizabad would have been unemployed,” he said.

“If I was not removed from power, there would not have been a single problem that is plaguing the country today. The dollar would have been at Rs100, roti would cost Rs4, and Pakistan would have earned a reputable position in the world,” the PML-N supremo said. He reiterated that the PML-N had eliminated terrorism, energy crisis, and load-shedding in its tenure.

Mr Sharif said he built motorways in the country. He added that had he not been ousted a motorway would have been passing through the Hafizabad city.

“I assure you that there will be no difference between Lahore and Hafizabad if the PML-N is voted into power,” he said, adding that he would respond to the love expressed by the people of Hafizabad with “a huge development package” and other facilities.

Ex-PM vows to end unemployment, make Pakistan self-reliant

Speaking about his previous tenure, the PML-N leader said he was ousted from power at least three times and claimed had he been allowed to complete his terms, Pakistan would have been a prosperous country and the green passport would have earned respect across the globe.

“Who had eradicated the power load-shedding when it was at its peak in the country?” Nawaz Sharif asked the crowd amid sloganeering by the participants. He kept asking who ended terrorism in the country. The crowd responded by shouting the name of Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Sharif also slammed ‘five judges’ who ousted him from power, saying that a prime minister elected by the votes of 250 million people had been ousted by merely five judges for not taking a salary from his own son.

Following a brief speech by Mr Sharif, Maryam Nawaz addressed the gathering and pledged to provide up to 200 free electricity units as well as solar panels. She said Nawaz Sharif was spending his time chalking up a strategy to bring relief to the people.

“Before coming back to Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif had said in London that we are people of May 28 and not the May 9 ones… [we] are the ones who made the country [an atomic power] and the people involved in May 9 are those who destroyed the country,” she claimed, referring to the protests that erupted across Pakistan following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan in May last year.

“A man who is sitting behind bars can never sympathise with the youth,” she said in a reference to Imran Khan without using his name. Ms Nawaz added that Nawaz Sharif distributed laptops among youths whereas Imran Khan allegedly handed them ‘petrol bombs’ to “attack their country’s property and security installations”.

She said the youth involved in the May 9 riots were “facing hardships in jails unlike that man [Imran’s] sons who are living in London”.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2024