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\u2022 PML-N leader says he has \u2018forgotten his grief\u2019, but some personal wounds never heal LAHORE: After four years in self-imposed exile, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif landed in Pakistan on Saturday to a rousing welcome by party workers and leaders, who had gathered at Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore to listen to his emotionally charged speech, wherein he agreed to forgive all those who had slighted him.<\/p>\n Accompanied by journalists and party leaders, Mr Sharif arrived in Islamabad on a chartered plane from Dubai and, after meeting some legal requirements regarding his bail and pending cases, left for Lahore. From Lahore airport, he boarded a helicopter that landed at the Lahore Fort, from where he moved to the rally venue in the early evening.<\/p>\n Clad in blue with a red scarf wrapped around his neck, the former premier became emotional while talking about the ordeal he, his daughter and other party leaders had to face during the tenure of Imran Khan, which ended in April 2022 following a no-trust vote.<\/p>\n The elder Sharif\u2019s speech \u2014 which started with him symbolically freeing pigeons \u2014 focused on \u2018rebuilding Pakistan\u2019 as he called for good relations with neighbours and harmony among all constitutional institutions and political players for the betterment of the country.<\/p>\n He also made it clear that he would not \u201cseek revenge\u201d against those allegedly involved in his ouster in 2017, and the sufferings inflicted on his family.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the PML-N leader did not share a roadmap \u2014 as promised by his party \u2014 to pull the country out of the economic quagmire. He also did not mention the upcoming elections in his speech, which are slated to be held in Jan 2024.<\/p>\n \u2018Who is responsible?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n As he started his speech, he asked participants to tell him who was responsible for his ouster in the Panama Papers case. \u201cTell me\u2026 who are they who separated me from my family and the people of Pakistan? We are those who built Pakistan. We made Pakistan an atomic power. We brought an end to loadshedding and brought prosperity,\u201d he said and added he had no \u201cdesire to take revenge\u201d. \u201cWhat I want is the prosperity of my people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His statement seemed to cement the shift in the PML-N\u2019s narrative \u2014 away from seeking accountability of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, ex-ISI head Gen Faiz Hamid and former chief justices Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa for their alleged involvement in the fall of the PML-N government.<\/p>\n Citing the experience he had gained over the course of his 40-year political career, Mr Sharif said, \u201cPakistan\u2019s constitutional institutions, political parties and all other stakeholders need to work together to deal with the challenges we are facing today. Without this, our country will not progress. We will have to figure out why the country is facing such a situation. Let me make it clear that we will have to follow the Constitution to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone needs to come toge\u00adther to strengthen the Constitution and remove the disease that affects the country again and again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Without naming India, Mr Sharif also said, \u201cWe cannot progress by fighting neighbours. We have to introduce an effective foreign policy and maintain good relations with our neighbours, especially as without this the country cannot progress. Pakistan will have to break the begging bowl for good,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n \u201cEven for the Kashmir solution, we will have to work in an honourable way,\u201d he said, according to a Dawn.com<\/em> report.<\/p>\n \u2018New beginnings\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Calling for new beginnings, Mr Sharif said, \u201cI still have the same passion. At this point in my life, I can see a changed Pakistan. Come forward and take the reins of the country and never allow anyone to play havoc with your country,\u201d he said, in reference to the PTI chairman.<\/p>\n \u201cI have restrained myself from saying something which I wanted to,\u201d he said cryptically.<\/p>\n \u201cI never betrayed my people. I always served them, but I was put in jail, and sent into exile, false cases against me, my younger brother, my daughter and other party leaders were instituted, but none of them quit the party.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have forgotten all my grief \u2014 but some wounds never healed,\u201d he said. \u201cI could not lay my father and mother in their graves. While in captivity, I had asked the Adiala Jail superintendent to get me connected to my sons in London to inquire after the health of my wife who was in ICU in London, but he did not. Two and half hours later, he told me that my wife had passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n Comparing the inflation rate during his government with the present, he said that had his government\u2019s policies continued, people would have been prosperous.<\/p>\n He said his party\u2019s narrative was that of the development works of the PML-N\u2019s tenures. The former PM also denounced brutalities in Gaza by the Israeli forces. He said the people of Palestine should be given their due right as he raised the Palestinian flag.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Calls for harmony among institutions to strengthen Constitution; says his party ready for polls
\u2022 Promised roadmap to \u2018end economic woes\u2019 absent from Minar-i-Pakistan speech<\/strong><\/p>\n