By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ‘s homecoming rally has reached the northern Punjab town of Jhelum where he will have an overnight stay before resuming journey towards Lahore on Friday.
The PML-N leader is going to his home town first time after his disqualification by Pakistan’s apex court at the head of a procession via historic Grand Trunk (GT) Road that runs through five districts while travelling from Rawalpindi to Lahore.
His convoy reached Jhelum at around 5pm Thursday, and the former prime minister arrived at the venue for his speech a little before 6pm.
“My government is gone now. Five judges sent me packing in one minute. Is this not an insult to the millions who voted for me?”, Nawaz Sharif said while addressing his supporters at Jhelum.
“You should ask them why they removed your leader,” he added. “This country and the people of Jhelum should ask them why they did this,” he was quoted by media.
Nawaz Sharif announced that he would soon announce his agenda,” , he said.
“For 70 years, no prime minister has been allowed to complete his tenure. This is not an insult of your prime ministers, but of the 200 million people of Pakistan. Some dictator and some judge comes along and rips up your ballot paper and hands it back to you.”
“You sent me to Islamabad, and now they [the Supreme Court] have sent me back home,” he continued.
“I do not want you to install me as prime minister again. My self respect is very dear to me. I have no intention of taking power again; but I do want to do something about your future,” he added.
“Is there any law to tackle dictators in this country?” he asked the crowd. “They [the dictators] break the Constitution and the law and then the judges give them legitimacy. The judges tell them ‘you did well by sending Nawaz Sharif home’,” he alleged.
“What will you answer to your God? What will you answer to this nation? The people want answers to all these questions [that I am asking],” Nawaz said.
“We need to ensure that whoever you vote into power, only you have the power to kick them out.”
“I have come to you to get this country back on track; to give the people’s mandate some respect,” he told his supporters, asking “Will you be with me in changing the fate of this country?”.
