“Five honourable judges sent an elected prime minister packing with a single stroke of a pen,” Nawaz told charged supporters at a mass gathering in Jhelum on Thursday evening.
The former PM, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court over undeclared assets, resumed his rally earlier today from Rawalpindi’s Katchery Chowk. It passed by Dina and Sohawa on its way to Lahore, designated place for the rally’s culmination.
“I was sent home in a minute by five judges,” he said and asked, “isn’t that an insult to the votes of millions of people.” The judges had also noted that I had not been involved in corruption.
The former premier went on to ask his supporters to promise him they will “not let anyone disrespect their mandate.”
“I was sent home for not drawing salary from my son; what did you have to do with the fact that I did not draw salary from my son?” the PML-N leader asked.
According to him, Pakistan had entered a new era of development when he was disqualified. “Electricity load-shedding was to be eliminated from the country next year, while motorways were built and peace returned to Karachi and Balochistan.”
Criticising the PTI and PAT chiefs, the former premier said sit-ins and protests did not serve the country in any way.
Earlier today, the former PM reached Dina as part of his ‘homegoing’ rally.On Wednesday, thousands of people attended the rally in support of the deposed premier as he embarked on the show of political power following the last month’s damning apex court verdict. Nawaz launched the so-called ‘caravan’ procession from Islamabad to his hometown of Lahore, despite the concerns of advisers about security.
The rally will have overnight stops in Jhelum and Gujranwala before reaching Lahore either on Friday or Saturday. For this purpose, PML-N MNAs in both cities have been instructed to make arrangements to accommodate a large number of people.
Nawaz, 67, resigned during his third stint as prime minister after the Supreme Court ruled on July 28 that he should be disqualified and ordered a criminal probe into his family over allegations stemming from the “Panama Papers” leaks of international offshore companies.
In recent meetings with party leaders, lawyers and the media, the former PM has expressed his displeasure over the court ruling. He has said no corruption charges had been proved, and it was unfair to disqualify him on the grounds of not having declared a salary from his son’s Dubai-based company among a list of assets submitted ahead of the 2013 elections that brought him to power.
