Nawaz will become PM, claims Shehbaz

F.P. Report
LAHORE: The former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif asserted that if PML-N voted to power, the party chief Nawaz Sharif would become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In a recent series of statements, the former premier, Shehbaz Sharif highlighted various points during his tenure after the PTI Chairman was dethroned from his position as a Prime Minister of Pakistan. The prominent political figure – Shehbaz Sharif – congratulates the nation on the expansion of GSP plus – the GSP+ allows Pakistan to export goods to the EU at zero import duties on 66 percent product tariff lines.
Shahbaz Sharif extended a warm welcome to his brother – Nawaz Sharif, as he is expected to return to Pakistan on October 21. He expressed confidence that the country is on the verge of improvement and better times are ahead. He attributed the rising inflation, unemployment, and mismanagement during the previous government’s term.
“The PTI government steered the country towards the potential default, however, the policies and decisions of the coalition government have effectively controlled the soaring inflation, and revived the country’s economy,” Shehbaz Sharif stated. The former premier criticized the previous government for negotiating terms with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and then failed to fulfill the agreements.
The former Chief Minister of Punjab stressed the significance of good governance, remarking that politics should serve the purpose of better governance rather than chasing power for personal gains.
At the outset of his address, the PML-N president talked about the 16-month tenure of the erstwhile Pakistan Democratic Movement under his premiership and recalled the challenges that confronted the then government, including floods, inflation, protests and a risk of default. “What would have happened if Pakistan had defaulted?” he asked and then outlined the “consequential impacts” of such a situation. “But God helped us avert default and I am thankful to Nawaz for standing by us.
“If our quaid told us to save our politics, I would have resigned, but he told us to take up the challenge and save the country instead,” he said. Shehbaz elaborated on the elder Sharif’s contributions to Pakistan, which included the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and making the country an atomic power, but lamented how a series of “painful events overturned Pakistan’s journey of growth”.
“I want to clarify that in 2017-18 the PML-N won the elections but the results were changed in massive rigging and a pre-prepared model was introduced to ruin the country.” But now, Shehbaz continued, the journey of prosperity would resume with Nawaz’s arrival. “He will himself tell his plan to change the country’s future at Minar-e-Pakistan on Oct 21. It is a programme that will expedite Pakistan’s growth and change its fate.”
He added that Nawaz shared good relations with a number of foreign countries, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, and he would use these ties not to “take loans but to get investment”.
When asked about remarks regarding being the “establishment’s man”, Shehbaz said if that was true, “what benefits did I get?” and talked about how he and his elder brother spent months in jail. On a question on accountability of former army generals, he lamented that in the 75-year history of Pakistan, accountability was only restricted to politicians and called for answerability across the board. Furthermore, the PML-N president stressed that free and fair elections should be held and that the outcome should be accepted by everyone.