TAXILA: The nation should get ready for a ‘long march’ to force the People’ Party-led coalition out of office, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday at the first public meeting of his party’s countrywide movement to topple the government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Mr Sharif said it was a battle for the rule of law and not a fight for power.

“Rampant corruption, inflation and poverty have exposed the rulers and it’s high time the nation got a patriotic leadership,” the former prime minister said.

Mr Sharif criticised President Asif Ali Zardari for going back on promises made to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, alleging that Mr Zardari and Mr Gilani were bent upon destroying Pakistan.

He said the PML-N would never let anyone trample the Constitution.

“The rulers even reneged on a promise for the restoration of judiciary, but we made it possible with our long march.”

Mr Sharif said the PPP leadership had done nothing for people during its term in office, calling upon Mr Zardari to return to the country $60 million stashed by him in Swiss banks.

He said it was the prime minister’s duty to write a letter to Swiss authorities so that the “nation gets its money back”.

“The rulers’ only mission is loot and plunder, but the PML-N will not relent in its struggle for recovery of looted money.”

The PML-N president said the law and order situation in Lyari, Karachi, and Balochistan had so disillusioned the people that they had abandoned themselves to their fate.

He said innocent people were being targeted while the government was busy protecting its rule.

Mr Sharif urged the masses to stand by him for saving the country, asserting that it was not a struggle for power.

He said his party had resolved to free the country from the “clutches of corrupt rulers”.

The PML-N chief accused President Zardari of trashing the Charter of Democracy he and Benazir Bhutto had signed in 2006.

In his speech, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, lashed out at the government and Tehrik-i-Insaaf.

“Those who talk about bringing about a revolution won’t bring any revolution. They can only bring agony. Ask them what is their policy about Kashmir, labourers, farmers and the US.”

Chaudhry Nisar said after the Supreme Court’s verdict against the prime minister, Imran Khan said he would wait for the detailed judgment and Mr Gilani, in return, started praising him.