Nawaz Sharif's homecoming

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif made a long homecoming speech at Lahore's iconic Minar-e-Pakistan, where he revealed his agenda for pulling the country out of persistent crises and the upcoming general elections.

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Moving on to skyrocketing inflation, the PML-N supremo said that roti was being sold at Rs4, sugar at Rs50 per kilogram and petrol at Rs60 per litre in his tenure.

“US Dollar was at Rs104,” he said, adding that they did not let the local unit fall against the greenback.

“Was I disqualified and removed as the prime minister due to this?” asked Nawaz.

Raising questions over his disqualification as prime minister, the PML-N leader asked the participants if they agreed with the ruling.

“I was ousted from the Prime Minister’s Office for not taking salary from my son,” he added.

The former premier claimed that there would have been no poverty and unemployment in the country if the work started in 1990 continued.

In his address, Nawaz Sharif added: "I am addressing any political gathering after a gap of six years as I faced cases for two years."

"I have come today with electricity bills from May 2016 during my tenure as PM when there were sit-ins but we were busy doing our work."

"You know who was orchestrating the sit-ins? [...] But we ensured the provision of electricity to your homes despite the sit-ins," Nawaz said while commenting on sit-ins during his tenure.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said no one in Pakistani would be unemployed if his party was allowed to continue the "1990s momentum".

"I was ousted because I didn't allow the dollar rate to fluctuate," he said.

Nawaz lamented that due to the ongoing economic crisis, "one has to decide whether to pay electricity bills or take care of one's children". "People are committing suicide, and borrowing money to pay the bills."

"[During my tenure] the poor had enough financial resources to [at least] to seek healthcare and get himself treated."

"This didn't start in Shehbaz's tenure. it started way before that. The dollar was out of control, bills were going up, and rates of daily utilities and petrol were also surging."

"During our tenure sugar was 50 rupees per kilogram, today it is at 250."

"This is why you ousted Nawaz Sharif?" the former prime minister said while criticising his disqualification in 2017.

"Pakistan was on its way to becoming an Asian tiger, we were preparing to ensure Pakistan's inclusion in the G20."

"A lot of countries which were trailing us are now leading us. We have been left behind. Not only do we have to catch up with those countries but in fact have to surpass them."

In a statement on X, PTI said that PDM's tenure was "16 months of brutal fascism".

Sharing his ordeal in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, three-time former premier Nawaz said that Maryam lost consciousness when he told his daughter about the death of her mother.

The elder Sharif said: “I am a true Pakistani.”

Talking about Pakistan’s nuclear tests on May 28, 1998, the former premier said that then-United States president Bill Clinton and other world leaders had been pressuring and refraining him from the tests and offered $5 billion in this regard but he refused the offer and made Pakistan a nuclear state.

Without taking the name of deposed premier Imran Khan, the elder Sharif asked: "Could he have dared to refuse the US president?"

"Clinton had offered $5 billion to me in 1999 for not carrying out nuclear tests, but my conscience did not allow me to accept the thing which was against the interest of Pakistan,” he added.

He maintained that they conducted the nuclear tests and gave India a befitting response.

“Are our [PML-N] governments toppled down and rulings are issued against us [for refusing the US and taking stance for the interest of Pakistan]?,” said the PML-N supremo.

The former premier stressed that "some wounds never heal", saying that the wealth of this life may go away and come back to you with the blessings of God but the loved ones who pass away never come back," he said while referring to the passing away of his mother and wife when he was facing the legal battles.

He said that these women won’t be there to receive him at his home like they did in the past.

He then recalled the time when he was given the news of his wife’s passing.

The PML-N supremo recalled making Pakistan a nuclear power and “ending” load shedding in the country during his time as the prime minister.

"Do you remember those 18 hours of loadshedding? Who ended it?" he asked, noting that it was under his leadership that the power issue was resolved.

He then showed the bill as well, which has now skyrocketed due to the rupee-dollar parity and a rise in fuel prices.

Nawaz said that his relationship with the nation is the same as when he left the country. He said that he was proud to see "loyalty in the eyes of people".

He said that he served the country with loyalty whenever he was given a chance he resolved the issues of Pakistan and never hesitated from any sacrifice.

He regretted the “false” cases against him, Shehbaz, Maryam, and other PML-N leaders.