HAFIZABAD – A day after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari poked fun at the three-time former prime minister, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif joined his party’s election campaign on Thursday.
Sharif addressed his party’s first election rally in the Punjab town of Hafizabad days before the February 8 General Election after keeping a long silence since his first public appearance on the October 21 homecoming.
Political parties are expediting their electioneering with a series of manifestos, new pledges and past performances. Besides, the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are eyeing the Prime Minister’s Office and desperately swaying voters to elect them to power.
Just a day earlier, Bilawal had said that ‘lion is hiding’ instead of going to the public.
In his opening remarks, Nawaz said that his mission is to put “Pakistan back on its feet”. He added that the country would have be amongst prospering states if he was not ousted from power again and again. He showered praises on the people of Hafizabad for warmly welcoming him.
“I had been ousted from power for not receiving salaries from my son,” the PML-N supreme leader said, adding, “Not a single youth would have left unemployed if our government had been allowed to complete its tenure, farmers would have seen prosperity at that time, power tariff would have not been hiked, and the country would have gotten rid of inflation.”
" I deeply missed my public every second and every minute. Had I not been removed, unemployment wouldn’t be an issue." @NawazSharifMNS
#حافظ_آباد_شیر_کا pic.twitter.com/8cyPKDnTnW
— PMLN (@pmln_org) January 18, 2024
The former premier said that Pakistan would have gained a prominent status globally if “I was not ousted from my [PM] office again and again.”
Nawaz, who returned to Pakistan after ending his nearly four years of self-imposed exile in London, also announced that his only “mission” is putting Pakistan “back on its feet now”.
Addressing the rally, he vowed that they would develop Hafizabad like Lahore besides linking the district with the motorway network if elected to power.
اگر ہماری حکومت رہتی تو ایک نئی موٹروے حافظ آباد کے اندر سے گزر رہی ہوتی , انشاءاللہ پھر آئے گا وقت اور گزرے گا موٹروے۔ میرا مشن دوبارہ پاکستان کو اپنے پیروں پہ کھڑا کرنا ہے آپ مجھ سے وعدہ کرو ہمارے ساتھ مل کے پاکستان کو پھر اپنے پیروں پہ کھڑا کرو گے۔
~ قائد مسلم لیگ (ن) محمد… pic.twitter.com/6rkpEffT2V
— PMLN (@pmln_org) January 18, 2024
The politico became the longest-serving prime minister for being in office collectively for more than 9 years. Nawaz had been elected to premiership thrice in 1990, 1997 and 2013 but never completed his five-year tenure.
