GUJRANWALA: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left Gujranwala on Saturday morning, to begin the fourth day of his journey towards his hometown, Lahore.
On reaching Muridke, he addressed a gathering promising his supporters that he would never leave them or betray them.
He reiterated that he was disqualified by the Supreme Court for not having taken salary from his son’s company.
The ousted PM’s rally first stopped at Kamoke, on the demand of his supporters.
Preparations to welcome the ousted prime minister in Lahore are in full swing, as locals decorated Shahdara Chowk and other venues with posters and banners of Nawaz Sharif.
All arrangements to welcome the ousted prime minister have already been done; banners and posters welcoming the PML-N leader have been put up all over the city.
Ravi Road, from Shahdara to Daata Darbar, was closed for regular traffic from 9 am onwards and commuters have been advised to take alternative routes.
Stages have been set up by his workers in different areas of Lahore in order to greet the former prime minister.
The rally is expected to cross Kamoke and Muridke, on its way to Lahore.
The disqualified prime minister, in his address in Gujranwala last night, said people were conspiring against him to get him disqualified for the last three years.
He also paid tribute to the child who was killed in Lalamusa, trampled by one of the vehicles taking part in the rally.
Senior party leaders Pervaiz Rasheed, Saad Rafique, Amir Muqam and Abid Sher Ali, among others, are with the ousted prime minister in the rally.
Former Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar did not take part in the rally due to his ‘ongoing back pain,’ as he later mentioned.
Nawaz Sharif, in his address in Jhelum on Thursday evening, said that he wants to change the country for the better and is not hungry for power.
He also said that he wants to see a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan.
In a statement, he also complained that five honourable judges ousted him, a democratically elected leader, with just a stroke of a pen.
“There was no corruption, there was no wrong doing.”
He also said that the ‘average duration for a democratically elected prime minister to stay in power is less than a year and a half, whereas dictators can rule for up to ten years at a stretch.’
“Is any court going to punish the dictators who have violated the Constitution?” questioned the former prime minister.
After the address, Nawaz Sharif conducted a meeting with PML-N leaders to discuss future strategy regarding the rally.
On Wednesday, the former prime minister began his ‘homecoming’ rally from the Punjab House to Lahore via the GT Road.
Prior to his departure, Nawaz had held a meeting with top party leaders, including Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.
He could not get much farther than Rawalpindi however due to his supporters’ turnout, which forced him to spend the night at the Punjab Camp House in Rawalpindi.
Nawaz began the second day of his ‘homecoming rally’ as he left the Punjab House, Rawalpindi on Thursday.
After crossing the Katcheri Chowk, Rawalpindi, Rawat and the GT Road towns, the rally reached Jhelum on Thursday night.
Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court on July 28 in its verdict in the Panama Papers case.
The former prime minister, however, decided to ‘go to the people’s court’ to seek their verdict in the shape of a rally from Punjab House, Islamabad to his hometown Lahore.