Pakistani authorities yesterday locked down parts of Lahore for the return from self-imposed exile of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who faces possible arrest and a 10-year prison sentence ahead of already tense elections his party insists are being rigged.
Sharif was last week sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court over the purchase of high-end properties in London, dealing a serious blow to his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party’s bid weeks ahead of the July 25 polls.
He has claimed he is being targeted by the military.
“I know that ... I will be directly taken to jail,” he said in a video released by the party yesterday. “I want to tell Pakistanis I have been doing this for you... Walk with me, join hands with me and change the destination of the country.”
The production date of the video, which shows Sharif seated on a airplane, could not be immediately confirmed.
His brother Shahbaz Sharif, who now heads the PML-N, on Thursday said that hundreds of their workers and supporters had been arrested ahead of Nawaz Sharif’s expected return in what he said was “naked” pre-poll rigging against their party.
Shahbaz Sharif has pledged to marshal a welcome for the former prime minister, saying that thousands of supporters would travel to Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport to back Nawaz Sharif.
“The whole world knows that PML-N is being targeted,” Shahbaz Sharif said. “We’ll go to the airport tomorrow, despite this brutality, and we will remain completely peaceful.”
Containers could be seen blocking some Lahore roads yesterday morning, while travel to and from the airport had reportedly been restricted.
Authorities have pinpointed at least 50 locations in the city to block if needed, said a local police official, who requested anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Despite the crackdown, PML-N backers continued to flock to the city, vowing to confront authorities if challenged.
“We are going to airport and if anybody stops us then we are ready to go to jail,” 36-year-old Khurram Ehsan told reporters. “We can go beyond our limits for our leader.”
Nawaz Sharif late on Thursday left London, where his wife is being treated for cancer.
Pakistan’s election will pit the PML-N against its main rival, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is led by cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan.
The election would be only the second democratic transfer of power in the South Asian country.
Nawaz Sharif was the 15th prime minister in Pakistan’s 70-year history — roughly half of it under military rule — to be removed before completing a full term.
The military remains the most powerful institution in the country, and has faced blistering allegations over the past few months that it is pressuring the media and politicians in a bid to manipulate the polls against the PML-N.
The military has denied the accusations, saying that it has “no direct role” in the elections.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS