'Vindicated' Nawaz, who 'symbolises May 28', touches down home
Pakistan
Remarks they must be regretting his removal from office
ISLAMABAD/DUBAI (Dunya News) – PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif landed in Islamabad after spending four years in exile as his party is confident that he will serve as Prime Minister of Pakistan for fourth term in his long political career.
Later, he left the chartered plane for the State Lounge to have consultations with his legal team. He will then leave for Lahore to receive a warm welcome by the party supporters.
نواز شریف کا طیارہ اسلام آباد ائرپورٹ پر لینڈ کر گیا#DunyaNews #NawazSharif #PmlnJalsa #IslAirport pic.twitter.com/Jtn3mQD2uE
— Dunya News (@DunyaNews) October 21, 2023
Senior party leader Ishaq Dar said in message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Nawaz signed the legal documents – concerning the appeals against his convictions in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield references.
بائیو میٹرک سرٹیفیکیٹ بھی لیا گیا-
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) October 21, 2023
قانونی دستاویزات پر دستخط لئے گئے
تصدیقی کاروآئی بھی مکمل کی گئی- pic.twitter.com/KNmtzrrVYu
Dar added that the biometric certificate for Nawaz had also been obtained along with other necessary legal requirements.
قائد مسلم لیگ ن میاں نواز شریف کی امیگریشن کا عمل مکمل کر لیا گیا
— PMLN (@pmln_org) October 21, 2023
میاں نواز شریف کے پاسپورٹ پر پاکستان داخلے کی مہر لگا دی گئی
میاں نواز شریف نے ایون فیلڈ اور العزیزیہ ریفرنسز میں سزا کے خلاف اپیلیں بحال کرنے کی درخواست پر دستخط کردیے #خوش_آمدید_نوازشریف pic.twitter.com/gCGGxNiNgj
After consulting his lawyers and fulfilling the requirements, he boarded the plane again and left for Lahore. He landed at the Lahore airport around 5pm and reached the venue for public rally by helicopter.
MAY 28 vs MAY 9
Earlier in Dubai, Nawaz said they represented May 28, not May 9 – a reference to the nuclear tests conducted during his stint as prime minister in 1998 and the PTI’s role in the violence earlier this year.
“We are of May 28; we are not of May 9,” he told reporters at the airport before his historic departure for Islamabad after spending four years in self-exile.
The three-time prime minister questioned whether they could see the old Pakistan, as he referred to the current state of affairs when compared to the period before his ouster. Back then, bread was available for Rs4 with the provision of free-cost medicines, he added.
Why the matters had reached this point, he regretted. “It shouldn’t have had happened.”
Nawaz reminded the reporters that he had left the matter up to Almighty Allah and was returning to the country as vindicated, adding that he and his daughter – Maryam Nawaz - were jailed in bogus cases.
He described the country’s current top electoral body as a “fair” Election Commission, which, he added, was authorised when to call polls in the country. The Commission would hold free and fair elections, the PML-N supremo expressed the hope.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Later, Nawaz departed from Dubai. While in the plane, one of the passengers asked Nawaz he had been removed from power whenever he ensured progress and development in Pakistan.
The former prime minister smiled and replied in Urdu poetry, which can best be translated as: “Perhaps you may be regretting my removal, I have returned to the gathering with the assumption.”
THE RALLY
Nawaz is scheduled to address a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan later in the evening. The PML-N has made arrangements for showering flowers using Cessna planes to welcome the former prime minister.
وَتُعِزُّ مَنٌ تَشَاء وَتُذِلُّ مَنٌ تَشَاء pic.twitter.com/h6Teh82sIn
— PMLN (@pmln_org) October 21, 2023
However, there is some confusion about the timing of Nawaz’s address to the crowd due to media reporting amid the delay in flight departure from Dubai. The plane was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am (PST) but it left the airport around 10:38am.
That’s why senior party leader Ishaq Dar had to clarify things through X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
In a message, Dar said a TV channel was airing the news that Nawaz would first go to Jati Umra before reaching Minar-e-Pakistani at 7pm, which wasn’t true.
Clarification:
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) October 21, 2023
On a media channel, there is news that Mian Nawaz Sharif will first go to Jati Umra and will later go to Minare Pakistani at 7pm. This new is NOT true.
Mian Sb will arrive Minare Pakistan at 5pm today as per Program to address the Jalsa, InnshaAllah!
The former prime minister reached the venue at half past five as per the programme to address the rally, he added.
Separately, PML-N Shehbaz Sharif is clearly very excited to receive his elder brother as he, in a message posted on X, welcomed him.
نواز شریف، جی آیاں نوں ️
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 21, 2023
In another message, he said, “My leader Nawaz Sharif will be among you today” and that he was coming back to unite the nation, not to divide it further, while putting Pakistan back on track.
My leader Nawaz Sharif will be among you today, InshaAllah. He is coming back to unite this nation, not to divide it further. He is coming back to spread love among his people, not hatred. He is coming back to help you become a productive citizen, not ammunition for any party or… pic.twitter.com/AaaKoupYxw
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 21, 2023
THE HISTORY
Nawaz, whose three terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan were marred by corruption allegations and standoffs with the military, is returning home from self-imposed exile.
Following are some facts about the veteran politician:
- Nawaz, 73, did not complete any of his three terms as prime minister in 1990-93, 1997-99, and 2013-17. He was removed as premier by a military-backed president in 1993, ousted in a coup in 1999, and disqualified by a court in 2017.
- Nawaz was born to a family of industrialists, made his money in steel manufacturing and grew the family-run Ittefaq Group.
- He entered politics in the late 1970s and was picked as finance minister of Punjab in 1981.
- He was known to have close ties with the generals, impressing them with policies that spurred economic growth in Punjab, and was groomed by military dictator Ziaul Haq. With the generals' backing, he became the chief minister of Pakistan's most populous and prosperous province in 1985.
- In 1990, Nawaz won a general election and became prime minister for the first time, succeeding Pakistan's first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, whose government was dismissed by the then president on charges of corruption.
- In 1993, Nawaz ran afoul of the then-president who dismissed his government on charges of nepotism and corruption. The Supreme Court later restored his rule but Sharif and the president failed to reconcile and both resigned.
- In a 1997 general election, Nawaz's PML-N rode to victory and he became prime minister for a second time.
- Pakistan conducted its first test of a nuclear weapon in May 1998 under his leadership, in response to arch-rival India which conducted its second nuclear weapon test just days before.
- Nawaz was also prime minister when Indian and Pakistani forces battled, between May and July 1999, in Kargil, in the disputed Kashmir region.
- He fell out with the then army commander, Gen Pervez Musharraf, in late 1999 and was ousted in a military coup. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment and went into exile in Saudi Arabia. He returned to Pakistan in 2007.
- He fought a bitter contest with PTI chairman, the former cricket hero turned politician, in a 2013 general elections and won, becoming prime minister for a third time.
- Attempting to normalise relations with India, Nawaz launched trade talks in 2014. The following year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Pakistani city of Lahore to meet Sharif.
- In 2017, Nawaz was removed as prime minister through a court verdict following a corruption investigation related to the Panama papers revelations. In July 2018, Pakistan's anti-graft court sentenced him to 10 years in prison for corruption.
- In December 2018, he was convicted on graft charges in a separate case and sentenced to seven years in prison. He denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.
- Nawaz was released on medical bail in Oct 2019 and left Pakistan weeks later but he remained active in politics from London, where he has been based.
