In his maiden televised ‘address to the nation’ after ending four-year exile, Pakistan Muslim League-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that the people of Pakistan had to bear the cost of his ouster.
Nawaz Sharif expressed his confidence that the people will back his party in the upcoming general elections after he secured major victories from courts.
“I am hopeful that you [nation] will announce your judgment on February 8, [2024] and end the punishments meted out to you,” the former three-time prime minister said in a recorded message, aired on television channels Thursday.
“My people, you don’t need to reach out to any court as you yourself are the judge,” the former premier said as he addressed his supporters for the first time since his legal victory in the form of exoneration from major corruption cases against him.
Nawaz lamented that he had “never” inherited “good conditions” from his predecessors and that he was always dragged into courts after his governments ended.
But he was thankful that the courts cleared his name this time. “This isn’t just my victory, it’s a victory for all of us. You kept standing by me and my party through these testing times,” Nawaz told his supporters.
He reminded his workers that the National Accountability Bureau had started a witch hunt against him on the directions of a former Supreme Court judge.
“Those involved in these shameful games [overthrowing PML-N regimes] have been exposed now. We are witnessing testimonies coming forth from those quarters from where we never thought of,” he said.
“I was called Sicilian Mafia, God Father, and a lot of other derogatory words [by judges]. But I left all my troubles up to Allah,” he smiled.
The PML-N elder lamented that he had to stay in jail for a “long time”, endure “abuse”, and also face “character assassination”.
“I could not carry my father’s coffin. I could not bury my mother. I could not spend the last moments with my dying wife,” Nawaz lamented, but vowed that he would not back down from the tough conditions ahead.
‘Without naming his top political rival, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan, Nawaz said.
