You brought me back with full force: Nawaz Sharif after being elected party chief

ISLAMABAD: Ousted former prime minister and newly-elected PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday paid tribute to the members of the upper and lower houses of the parliament for repealing a clause through Election Bill 2017, removing the bar on his election as party chief after his disqualification.

“Constant efforts were made to dislodge me, but you kept electing me,” he said while addressing a cheering crowd at Convention Center in Islamabad after being elected as party chief.  “You brought back Nawaz Sharif with full force,” he told the participants.

PML-N stalwart and former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan left the venue during Sharif’s speech.

The former prime minister said military dictator Pervez Musharraf introduced the clause to stop him from doing politics. It was finally done away with and the members of the Senate and National Assembly as well as PML-N workers deserved appreciation for “throwing the black law back in his [Musharraf] face”.

Assailing his disqualification by the Supreme Court, he said, “if they found nothing in the Panama Papers, they should have told the nation that they are going to use Iqama (work permit) to oust him. They should have explained that he had not embezzled public money.

“This has been repeatedly happening for the past 70 years,” he said. “We haven’t learnt anything from the separation of East Pakistan.”

He said he served the nation without any personal interests and did nothing wrong throughout his tenure.

The former prime minister said the people knew well how those who made this country an atomic power were treated and added they were sent to the gallows, and forced into exile.

Without naming military dictators, PML-N chief Sharif said those who violated the country’s constitution remained Sadiq (honest) and Ameen (trustworthy).