No wish for revenge, Nawaz says in homecoming Lahore power show

Deposed prime minister and proclaimed offender Nawaz Sharif, who returned to Pakistan today after spending four years in self-imposed exile, said he has “no wish for revenge” and stressed on beginning a “new journey” towards growth.

“There are some wounds that take time to heal, but I have no wish for revenge. Nawaz Sharif only wishes for the well-being of the people,” he said during an address at his homecoming rally in Lahore.

The elder Sharif arrived in Islamabad in the afternoon, where he completed legal and biometric formalities. His chartered plane landed in the capital city with more than 150 people from his party and media organisations, the PML-N said.

Observers say the reason Nawaz arrived in Islamabad first was that his touchdown in the capital was necessary to make bail, earlier granted by the Islamabad High Court on Oct 19.

After completing the formalities, Nawaz left for Lahore on his plane and reached his hometown a little after 5pm. He was welcomed by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and other party leaders at the airport. Nawaz was then flown to Lahore Fort on helicopter.

He then offered Maghreb prayers at the Lahore Fort with Shehbaz, Ishaq Dar and other party leaders before making his way to the Minar-i-Pakistan. Upon arrival, a visibly emotional Nawaz embraced his daughter Maryam and greeted other party leaders on stage.

At the outset of his speech, the PML-N supremo said: “I am meeting you today after several years, but my relationship of love with you is the same.

“There is no difference in this relationship. The love I am seeing in your eyes, I am proud of it.”

Nawaz said he never betrayed his supporters nor did he shy away from any kind of sacrifice. He recalled how “fake cases” were framed against him and his party leaders. “But no one abandoned the PML-N flag.”

“Tell me, who separated Nawaz Sharif from his nation? We are those who built Pakistan. We made Pakistan an atomic power. We brought an end to loadshedding,” he said, highlighting how he produced and provided “cheap” electricity to the people.

Responding to the crowd cheering, Nawaz said: “I know you want to hear that I love you too.”

“Today, trust me, after seeing your love, I have forgotten all my grief and pain. I don’t even want to remember. But, there are some wounds that can’t ever heal.”

Nawaz, in a quivering voice, said how he had lost his mother and wife “to politics”. He recalled how he couldn’t pay his final respects to his mother, father or wife, despite repeated requests to the jail superintendent in his wife’s case.

“I kept thinking about how difficult could it possibly be for him to just arrange a phone call. After 2.5 hours, his number 2 man came and told me that my wife has passed away,” the deposed PM said, adding that he had stopped them from giving Maryam the news.

“What would she have gone through […] this is our own country, I am a true Pakistani, the love for Pakistan is in my chest,” he said.

Nawaz further recalled the impediments he faced at the time of making Pakistan an atomic power. “There will be record present in the Foreign Office that Clinton offered me $5bn […] this happened in 1999 […] I could have been offered $1 or 2 billion too, but I was born in the land of Pakistan and this did not permit me to accept what is against Pakistan’s favour.

“Tell me, if someone else would have been in my place — you know who — could he have said this to the American president? So, do we get punished for this? Are verdicts announced against us for this reason?” he said.

Nawaz compared how roti and petrol cost way higher today as compared to when he was in power. “Was I ousted for this reason? What is this decision? You are the public, you tell, do you agree with this decision?”

The PML-N supremo lamented how the country was in a dire state today but at the same time vowed to redirect Pakistan to the path of growth.

He further stated that if Pakistan was run on his 1990 economic model, “not a single person would have been unemployed, there would be no such thing as poverty […] but today, the conditions are so bad that one has to think if they can feed their children or pay electricity bills”.

Nawaz clarified that these tough economic conditions weren’t created during the Shehbaz Sharif-led government but traced back to a long time.

“Is this why you ousted me? We were making Pakistan the Asian Tiger, we wanted to take Pakistan to G20,” he said, adding that dharnas were held during his tenure but he kept working for the public.

The PML-N supremo also waved two copies of electricity bills, which he claimed were from May 2016 and August 2022, and highlighted the exorbitant increase in them. “Was this done by Shehbaz Sharif? I am not defending him, I am presenting facts.”

At one point, Nawaz, in an apparent reference to incarcerated PTI Chairman Imran Khan, said he did not want to take names as per his upbringing and training.

Nawaz reiterated that he had forgotten the past after seeing the public’s love, but quoted a verse from Ghalib: “Zindagi apni kuch is shakal se guzri ghalib, hum bhi kya yaad karain gain k khuda rakhte they.”

During the address, Nawaz said PML-N was asked about its narrative. “Ask this from the Orange Line, ask this from Green Line, ask this from the motorway, ask our narrative from the Chagai atomic bombs, ask our narrative from the dollar rate, ask our narrative from our morals.”

The PML-N, he continued, was not among those who disrespected others. “And I believe that the difficulties the people of Pakistan are facing, we need to focus on the reasons and, according to the spirit of the Constitution, make a plan for the future together.”

He stressed that state institutions, politics and all the pillars of state needed to work together. “Everyone needs to come together to strengthen the Constitution and remove the disease that affects the country again and again.

“We need to begin a new journey,” Nawaz pointed out. “We need to decide on how we will get our lost position back, how we will have to run on double speed, how we will have to break the begging bowl forever, how we will have to stand on our feet […] how we will have to make a strong foreign policy and create good relations with the world.

“Even for the Kashmir solution, we will have to work in an honourable way.”

“I want to give a message to my youth that you aren’t here to spend your life in adverse ways, the path [forward] is difficult but not impossible,” he said, adding that the PML-N’s aim would be to bring ease to the people.

Nawaz, taking a dig at Imran without naming him, said he also carried prayer beads but doesn’t feel the need to show them in public.

Separately, addressing the rally earlier, Maryam described how the streets were packed in Lahore today to welcome Nawaz. Standing alongside her counsin and former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz, she asserted that those who talked about difference within the PML-N had been proven wrong.

Rallies from various regions of the country poured into Lahore, a party spokesperson said. Heavy police contingents were deployed to guard the rally’s venue, said police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi.

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