Nawaz Sharif vows to put Pakistan back on track
MANSEHRA (INP): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid and former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif while referring to the PTI government said that when it was ousted from power it left a trail of destruction behind. “Now putting Pakistan back on track is a hard nut to crack but we will do it,” he said.
Addressing a mammoth public rally in Mansehra from where he is contesting elections on Monday, Nawaz Sharif said that when last time he was the country’s prime minister, there was no price-hike. “But sadly those who came to power later left everything in tatters.”
He went on to say that had the PML-N wanted, it could have formed its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in 2013. “If I had not been disqualified, even the people of Mansehra would have the facility of a metro bus service,” he said, and added, “But unfortunately many injustices have been done to Pakistan.”
“Nawaz Sharif is here with you after 10 years. The previous rulers of this province literally destroyed it,” he said. “Did they make a new KP or new Pakistan,” he asked the crowd amid huge roar.
Nawaz criticized political opponents for ruining the country’s economy. “Nawaz Sharif left better Pakistan but now it is detracted,” he said.
The ex-prime minister said that had he not been removed from power in 2017, the people of Mansehra would have been gifted an airport and a metro project. He regretted that development work on the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway was stopped by the past PTI government.
He vowed to bring Pakistan back on the path of prosperity after coming into power, saying the PML-N will again provide fuel, vegetables and other things at cheaper rates after coming into power. The issue of water will also be settled, he added.
Nawaz Sharif’s last three terms as prime minister in 1990-93, 1997-99, and 2013-17 ended before he could complete his tenures, as he was removed by a military-backed president in 1993, ousted in a military coup in 1999, and disqualified by the Supreme Court in 2017. He has lived in self-exile in the UK since 2019 after he was convicted in two separate corruption cases and got seven- and ten-year jail terms.
Since his return to Pakistan in October, Nawaz Sharif had been acquitted in two major corruption cases, paving the way for his participation in the elections, scheduled for Feb 8.
Mansehra is considered a stronghold of the PML-N party which won a seat there in the 2013 and 2018 elections. He, however, said that despite difficulties, he would do his best to pull the country out of crisis. He said he was hopeful that the water issue would be resolved as well.
The former prime minister had kicked off his election campaign from Hafizabad, Punjab, on January 18.
It merits mention here that former prime minister is also the candidate from the constituency of NA-15 Mansehra. “I am not here to become prime minister. I am contesting the election from here. Will you vote for me,” Sharif asked the massive crowd.
“Hazara and Mansehra really love Nawaz Sharif and they have rightly proved it today,” said PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz in her address. “KP isn’t a laboratory where you come and do experiments,” Maryam said in an apparent reference towards previous governments of PTI in the province.
“Where are billion trees, employment and five million houses? Your all promises were fake,” she said. She said that Mansehra has given its verdict today instead of waiting for Feb 8 polling day.
