Nawaz says ready to quit politics forever if corruption proved

• PML-N president asks voters to protect sanctity of their votes
• ‘Peshawar, Karachi ruined by PTI, PPP governments’

SHEIKHUPURA: Pakistan Muslim League-N President and former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Sunday said that he would quit politics forever, if corruption of even a single penny were proved against him.

“We will defeat conspirators in the general election 2018,” he said while addressing a public gathering here. He said that he had been removed from the PM Office for pursuing an agenda of development and progress.

He said that he was with the PML-N workers and Almighty Allah was also with them. “You will have to protect the sanctity of your votes,” he asked the crowd. He said that he would serve the people of Sheikhupura and launch many development projects, if he came to power again.

Highlighting the achievements of his government, he said that load-shedding had ended, while poverty was also alleviated to a great extent. His party launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to enhance business activities and strengthen national economy, he said.

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Nawaz Sharif said that not a single project was started and completed by the parties in the provinces, where they were in the government.

“We have already bid farewell to the PPP and the time has come to see off those elements who talk about raising of an umpire’s finger,” he added. He said that Peshawar and Karachi had been ruined by the PTI and the PPP governments, whereas his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was continuously launching development projects in his province.

He said that the country was making fast-track progress when he was ousted from the office of prime minister. He had eliminated terrorism and ended load-shedding, and restored peace in the country, he added. “We will change the destiny of the country with the support of people.”

The PML-N president said that the conspirators would face defeat in the next general election as the people were aware of their negative politics. He urged the people to support the PML-N in the next elections, if they wanted to promote health and education sectors in the country. PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz also spoke on the occasion.

‘WELL DONE SHEIKHUPURA’

Addressing the rally, Maryam commended the citizens of Sheikupura for arranging a successful rally which seemed to cover every part of the city. “I have brought Nawaz’s case to your court today. Do you accept his disqualification, will you let this continue?” Maryam asked the gathering.

She lamented that her father was removed from office, thrice and questioned the neutrality of judges who “speak against Nawaz and then sit on the bench hearing his case”. In an apparent reference to the Supreme Court’s powers of intervention, she asked where the Article 184 (3) of the Constitution [which empowers Supreme Court’s intervention in public welfare/human rights issues] disappears when military governments are formed.

The Sharif family departed for the Sheikhupura rally from their residence at Jati Umra and reached Sheikhupura by road. PML-N officials stated that more than 5,000 chairs were set up and occupied in the rally. According to the district police officer, 1,800 police personnel were deployed for security duty, with 300 posted on the route that the party’s leader travelled by.

Earlier, Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Senator Pervaiz Rasheed who were accompanied by State Minister for Interior Affairs Tallal Chaudhry visited Sheikhupura to review arrangements for the rally. Rasheed had said that today’s gathering would be the biggest rally in Sheikhpura’s history while talking to the media earlier.