Nawaz slams ouster, wife files nomination papers for by-polls
ISLAMABAD: Former premier Nawaz Sharif again attacked Pakistan’s judiciary on Friday as he made his way towards Lahore in a rally even as his wife Kulsoom filed her nominations to contest the parliament seat left vacant by his disqualification by the Supreme Court.
Sharif’s rally, which began making its way from Islamabad to Lahore on Wednesday, is being seen as the start of his PML-N party’s campaign for the 2018 general election.
After spending the night at a hotel on the banks of the Jhelum river, Sharif made his way into central Punjab, the political heartland of the PML-N, where he again received a mixed reception at different places.
Sharif had criticised the judiciary on Thursday for forcing him to quit, saying it was an “insult” to the people of Pakistan as their elected leader was ousted by the Supreme Court.
On Friday, he told his audience: “Every prime minister in this country was given a tenure of one-and-a-half years, on average, to govern .... On the other hand, dictators were allowed to rule for decades and the judges even allowed them to rule.”
In a related development in Lahore, Sharif’s wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz submitted her nomination papers to contest by-elections to the seat he had vacated. She has never contested elections though she played a key role in the PML-N’s movement for the release of her husband when he was deposed in a military coup in 1999 and jailed.