Team News Riveting
Islamabad, May 28
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was on Tuesday elected as the PML-N president unopposed after six years.
The development that was widely expected after he was acquitted last year in all the graft cases against him. Earlier today, while sharing a video of preparations for the party’s general council meeting, the PML-N had said: “Lion is returning to take his rightful place at the top.”
The PML-N supremo returned to the party’s helm six years after he lost the position due to a Supreme Court order in the Panama Papers case. Addressing the general council meeting, Nawaz told the charged crowd that it had to rejoice not because of his reassuming the presidency but because “Saqib Nisar’s decision has been thrown into the dustbin.
Sharif admitted that Islamabad had “violated” an agreement with India signed by him and ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, in an apparent reference to the Kargil blunder committed by General Pervez Musharraf. “On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement…it was our fault,” Sharif said.
“Call those who decided that Nawaz is disqualified forever. Today, Nawaz is standing before you again. Why was the decision made and for what reason? That Nawaz didn’t take a salary from his son.”
Nawaz congratulated his party members and brother for steadfastly holding on to the party banner through its tribulations. He alleged that many forces had tried to create discord in his relationship with his brother and PML-N supporters but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif continued to stay loyal.
The PML-N president claimed that many years ago his brother was offered the prime minister’s seat on the condition of sidelining Nawaz but the younger Sharif rejected the offer.
Nawaz also lauded PML-N scions Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz for facing many trials, including prison sentences, with “bravery and strength” for the party and country’s sake.
The PML-N president praised his brother for his government’s performance, saying economic indicators were already improving. He urged him to work with commitment, saying there would be some one to two years of hardship but then would arrive prosperity.
