“Revenge is not on the table; I am here for the country’s development,”Nawaz Sharif

“Revenge is not on the table; I am here for the country’s development,” Nawaz Sharif said in his address at Minar-e-Pakistan on Saturday after arriving in the country from four years of self-imposed exile in London, promising to tackle record inflation.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif made a long homecoming speech at Lahore’s iconic Minar-e-Pakistan as kick-started his party’s campaign for next year’s election.

Nawaz began his address with a couplet, saying, “Kahan Se Chairoon Afsana / Kahan Tamaam Karun,” which translates to “Where should I begin this story, and where should I end it?”

He expressed his resolve to transform Pakistan into a developed and impregnable nation.

Referring to his party and its leaders, Nawaz said they were the builders of Pakistan. “We are here to build Pakistan. By the grace of Almighty, we developed an atomic bomb for Pakistan. We made Pakistan a nuclear power.”

“I want to serve this nation,” said the 73-year-old veteran politician.

“My only desire is to see this nation prosper,” he said after comparing the current essential goods prices with his last tenure before he was ousted in 2017.

The former Prime Minister recalled that during his government, Pakistan was poised to become an Asian Tiger, but today the country lagged far behind.

He went on to remind people of the “good” times during his government’s tenure.

During his address, Nawaz Sharif responded to the slogans of enthusiastic party workers by saying, “I love you too.”

He added, “Seeing your love, I have forgotten all my sorrows and pains. I don’t even want to remember that pain. There are some pains that cannot be forgotten, and they never fade.”

He said that “all constitutional institutions” should work together — an important statement for the institutions with whom Nawaz has had a dark past.

“I am talking with much restraint today so that I may not utter the words that I’m not supposed to,” Nawaz Shairf added.

The former prime minister also spoke about the ongoing Israeli violence against the Palestinians.

Denouncing Israeli brutalities on innocent Palestinians, the PML-N leader said that Pakistanis stood in solidarity with their Palestinian brethren.

“We must all unite to help and support the Palestinians,” he said and also called on the world leaders to play their role in providing the Palestinians with their due rights.

It must be noted that Nawaz Sharif did not utter the name of his arch-foe Imran Khan once but made several references to him without naming him.

He also recalled the deaths of his father, mother, and wife, whom he said he lost due to politics.

The former prime minister said his spouse, the late Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, would not be found if he went back home today.

“This is a wound that will never heal. Those separated from us never return.”

Nawaz Sharif recalled that when his father and mother passed away, he could not attend their funerals.

He added that when his wife died, he was in a prison cell when he received the news of her demise.

He also recalled how he had begged the Adiala Jail superintendent to let him speak over the telephone, but he did not grant him permission. He said another jail superintendent informed him of his wife’s death.

He told the crowd that when Maryam Nawaz, who was in the same jail, was given the news of her mother’s demise, she started crying and fainted.