Decision to travel to Lahore via motorway was taken at party meeting: Nisar hits back at Nawaz’s remark

. Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has hit back at the veiled suggestion by a PML-N leader that he had recommended former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to take the motorway to Lahore as part of his homecoming rally following his disqualification last year. In a statement issued through his spokesman on Wednesday, Nisar responded to a video tweeted by Maryam Nawaz a day earlier showing PMLN members demonstrating party spirit and expressing solidarity with their leader Nawaz Sharif at a meeting. In an impassioned speech addressed to the former prime minister, State Minister for In- terior Talal Chaudhry can be heard saying in the video: “You revised your decision to take the motorway to go to Lahore. It was a turning point when you decided to take GT road for the journey.” At this, Nawaz asked: “Where are these people who suggested that we travel via the motorway?” Amidst chuckles, party members quipped that those behind the recommendation will not be found at this gathering to which Nawaz said, “If you are sitting here then please raise your hand.” Amused by the situation, Nawaz mockingly said that one person had even advised him to take a flight from Rawal- pindi to Lahore. Before Nawaz decided to take the Grand Trunk Road for his procession towards Lahore in August 2017, media reports had claimed that Nisar wanted Nawaz to travel via the motorway and hold the rally only in Lahore. Although he was not named during the video clip, Nisar apparently took personal affront to the suggestion that he had recommended the motorway route for the rally, clarifying that Nawaz’s decision to travel to Lahore via the motorway had been taken in a meeting of senior party leadership. Source: