Pre-election rigging began the day I was disqualified, says Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday claimed that pre-election rigging started in the country when he was removed from the offices of Prime Minister and president of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

While talking to media outside the accountability court in Islamabad, Nawaz Sharif asserted, “The onset of pre-poll rigging can be marked from a long period of time when I was disqualified as a Prime Minister and later as PML-N president for life.”

He reiterated that being summoned in courts ahead of elections is pre-poll rigging. Referring to the Senate elections, PML-N supreme leader complained, “What else can be a better example of rigging than keeping my party candidates deprived of tickets.”

Former Prime Minister lamented that a suo moto notice is issued on daily basis, when PML-N members are forced to join other parties then why a suo moto action is not being taken on the issue?”

He reserved to comment on the controversial book being authored by Reham Khan by saying that he has no knowledge about the contents of the book and the issue as whole.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on July 28 when a five-judge Supreme Court bench in a unanimous verdict in the Panamagate case, thus cutting short his third stint in power.

Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s before he himself was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in a 2013 election.

The court verdict marked a major political victory for opposition leader Imran Khan, who in 2016 threatened mass street protests unless Sharif’s wealth was investigated.

Khan pounced on the leaking of the Panama Papers, which revealed Sharif’s family had bought expensive London apartments through offshore companies.