Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was elected as the PML-N president unopposed on Tuesday.
The development was widely expected after his acquittal from corruption cases in 2023.
The General Council of the PML-N elected Mr. Sharif unopposed and also passed a resolution demanding action against those involved in ousting of Nawaz Sharif in 2017.
Speaking on occasion, Nawaz Sharif said that after his party elected him the president, the decision of the former chief justice Saqib Nisar had gone down to the dustbin. “You [Saqib Nisar] disqualified me for life, but I am again here, where are you?” he questioned the former CJP.
He said that three to four people including the PTI’s founding chairman Imran Khan put the country’s democracy at stake. He said PTI came on the shoulders of such judges and former military generals and now it was trying to be innocent. He said there would be no talks with Khan till he did not answer who is that third party which former Lt General Zaheer ul Islam meant.
He said “During the sit-in, I was asked by one person to resign and afterward the whole drama was staged. I was disqualified over not taking a salary from my son. I was not seeking salary from the son of Saqib Nisar.” Khan started politics on the shoulders of Saqib and the then generals, but derailed the country from economy and real democracy. Mr. Khan, first you answer these questions then come to us for talks,” he stated.
He said Pakistan would have been a power in the Asian continent if there had been no leg-pulling. “It is unfortunate that leg pulling is long-standing and was started in 1947. We had been cutting our feet by ourselves. If there had been no conspiracies against the elected government of the PMLN, the situation of the progress of the country would have been different.” Nawaz said adding, (I had no regrets if I was disqualified in cases like al-Qadir University.” “We rejected the offer of America of five billion US Dollars and conducted atomic tests. If there had been Imran Khan, national security had been compromised and the money in his pocket. I denied America of making any compromise on our integrity. Afterward, Mr. Atal Behari Bajpai came to Pakistan and offered an agreement and we made that agreement, but unfortunately, we broke that agreement.” He said his government was ended through conspiracy and Imran Khan was part of that conspiracy.
“In my tenure of the government, there was no load shedding, there were motorways, terrorism was rooted out and peace in Karachi was restored, flour was at Rs 35 per kg, gold was at Rs 50000, fuel was at Rs. 60 per litter, sugar was Rs. 50, and roti was at Rs 4. But unfortunately, through conspiracy, all was reversed. It is the conspiracy of four to five anti-Pakistan characters including Saqib Nisar and Imran Khan.” He advised the prime minister and the chief minister of Punjab to do hard work and start restoring the losses of Pakistan. He also appreciated the party workers and leadership including Shehbaz Sharif for not making any compromise in hard times.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that all conspiracies against Nawaz Sharif failed. He criticized the PTI leadership for 190 million pound and Toshakhana cases. “The vicious face of Khan is exposed to all and now the days are gone when people could be made fools.” The Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2017 disqualified Nawaz as Prime Minister of the country for his alleged involvement in corruption. Mr. Nawaz was disqualified in the Iqama case.
His disqualification as a primer and party head has always been criticized and thought of as political victimization. Nawaz Sharif took the driving seat of his party when PML-N being in the government was facing multiple challenges to its popularity, credibility, and identity. It was in April when PML-N Punjab president Rana Sana Ullah announced that Mian Nawaz Sharif would again be elected as the president of this party. This decision came when Nawaz Sharif was on a private visit to China. He said that the former three-time prime minister was resuming this position after having been relieved by the country courts.
Mr. Sharif was disqualified from his party’s top position by the former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar in February 2018 after being implicated in the Panama Papers case. Mr. Sharif was also deposed from his government and was politically victimized when the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan was in power.
However, on January 8, 2024, the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed the lifetime ban on Nawaz Sharif and allowed him to contest elections. In his absence, his younger brother and now the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the party’s president while his daughter now the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was elected the senior vice president of the PML-N. Shehbaz Sharif earlier on May 11 tendered his resignation from the party’s presidency stating that it was now the seat of Nawaz.
The party leadership expressed the hope that now that Mr. Nawaz has taken the driving seat, the PML-N will flourish. Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from London after four years and also lost his wife in this period while his, brother, daughter, and other family members also faced bad times when he was there in London.
Mr. Sharif was expected to become the fourth-time Prime Minister of the country, but his party couldn’t attain a clear majority in the National Assembly in the recent general elections. After that he allowed his younger brother Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to become Prime Minister. The party’s leadership also expressed satisfaction with the performance of Mr. Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister and party president. The general council also passed a resolution demanding action against those responsible for ousting Nawaz. (By Rana Kashif)
