Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Lahore: Pakistan's powerful army sent its officers to London in 2022 to convince former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to the country to "save" it from destruction under Imran Khan's regime, the ruling PML-N supremo's son-in-law claimed on Wednesday.
Nawaz, 74, had returned from London in October last year after spending four years in self-imposed exile on medical grounds. Upon his arrival, he was acquitted in all the cases he was facing including the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving a seven-year imprisonment before leaving for the UK.
"The Army had gone to London (in 2022) and touched the knees of Nawaz Sharif and requested him to come to Pakistan and save it from the destruction of (former prime minister) Imran Khan," Capt (retd.) Muhammad Safdar while addressing party workers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) He said when Nawaz returned to become prime minister for the fourth time then the powerful circles (a reference to the powerful military) decided against it.
"To stop him from becoming the premier they ensured that Nawaz lost the election from NA-15 Mansehra," he said and chided the Election Commission of Pakistan for manipulating the result of Nawaz, a three-time former prime minister.
Interestingly, Nawaz had won Lahore's seat in the February 8 general election which Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) alleged that he had also lost this seat but the ECP declared him successful in the country's worst-ever rigged polls.
Nawaz himself had admitted that he was a candidate to become premier but his party failed to get a simple majority therefore it was decided that his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif should be made the prime minister.
The PTI has alleged that the PML-N had won only six per cent seats of the National Assembly and the military establishment gifted dozens of its winning (PTI) seats after getting the results changed through ECP to the PML-N so that its puppet setup led by Shehbaz Sharif could come to power and serve its interests.
PML-N sources said that Nawaz had agreed not to contest for the Prime Minister's slot after the military establishment offered him to make his daughter Maryam Nawaz Punjab Chief Minister.
The powerful Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75-plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.