Shehbaz asks Nawaz to return to Pakistan, become PM for fourth time

• PM says those who criticise Ishaq Dar should separate themselves from party.
• Adds politics will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan.
• Maryam Nawaz lauds workers for standing with party in difficult times.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan to lead the election campaign of the party and become the prime minister for the fourth time.

PM Shehbaz made the appeal during a central general council meeting of the party where the premier was re-elected as the president of the PML-N.

Addressing the meeting, the premier said that he was waiting for his elder brother —  who has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons — to return to Pakistan and then hold the party meeting so he could hand over the PML-N's presidentship back to him.

“The election commission’s sword was hanging which is why this meeting was held,” the prime minister added.

Premier Shehbaz was given the PML-N’s presidency after his predecessor — Nawaz, the three-time prime minister — was disqualified by the Supreme Court and barred from holding any party office.

He also said that the PML-N needed young leadership, and commended Maryam for her hard work.

“You will see that the map of politics will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan,” PM Shehbaz said.

Coming to his governance, he once again reminded the workers that his government took charge at a time when they did not get roses but thorns.

“Inflation has broken the back of the people, oil prices were touching the sky. The coalition government decided together that we would face the tough times,” he said, adding that in the upcoming budget, the government increased the salaries of employees and pensions.

"We have still locked horns with the IMF [and] Pakistan will continue on the path of development,” the premier further said.

On the criticism of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM Shehbaz said that those people within the party pulling his leg have no right to remain part of the PML-N.

Before the PM’s address, PML-N Senior Vice-President Maryam lauded the workers that stood with the party in its difficult times. “The party is standing today because the workers stood by the party during its difficult times."

She also lauded PM Shehbaz for running the current government along with coalition partners.

“Be it a big or small decision, Shehbaz Sharif did not do anything without Nawaz Sharif’s approval,” Maryam told the party workers. She also shared that her father, Nawaz, asks her to talk politely if she gets emotional during her speeches.

“Nawaz Sharif never asked anyone to put on fire anything. Nawaz Sharif and PML-N faced a lot of difficulties but never cried about them,” she added.

Meanwhile, the meeting also passed a resolution against the violence that took place on May 9 after the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan. The convention also unanimously passed a resolution in solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

The political huddle also called for severe punishment of those who tried to create divisions in national institutions. The characters who conspired to create a rift between the people and the army should be punished, it added.

Apart from the election of PM Shehbaz as the president, the convention also backed the appointment of Ahsan Iqbal as the secretary general of the party, Maryam as chief organiser and senior vice president, Ishaq Dar as president PML-N overseas, Marriyum Aurangzeb as secretary information and Ataullah Tarar as deputy secretary general.