Lahore, Oct 7 (PTI) As the countdown for the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan from London begins, his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif has claimed that his brother was ousted from power three times by one conspiracy or another, including in 1999 following the “Kargil debacle”.
Nawaz, 73, is expected to return to Pakistan on October 21 after about four years of self-imposed exile in London where he has been living since November 2019 when he went there for medical treatment.
The foremost conspiracy, Shehbaz, also a former prime minister, claimed was when his elder brother was conveniently blamed for the Kargil debacle to oust him from power in 1999.
Without naming the late army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president said the “Kargil adventure” was carried out and in the wake of it, Nawaz Sharif had to go to the US to stop the war.
“Kargil debacle was conveniently imposed on then prime minister Nawaz Sharif (in 1999). If Kashmir was taken over in the wake of this adventure, then history might have been different,” Shehbaz said sarcastically while talking to the media here on Friday.
“But Nawaz had to rush to the US to end the war (with India) and sacrificed his government for the sake of the state,” Shehbaz added.
On July 26, 1999, the Indian Army announced the successful culmination of “Operation Vijay”, declaring victory over the Pakistan Army after a nearly three-month-long battle at the icy heights of Kargil.
After the Kargil War, Gen Musharraf staged a military coup against the elected government of Nawaz Sharif in October 1999, snatched power and ruled the country for the next nine years.
The elder Sharif, three-time premier, was on a self-imposed exile in London from November 2019 on ‘medical grounds’ after the Lahore High Court granted him a four-week bail.
Subsequently, he had been declared a proclaimed offender in corruption cases. He was serving a seven-year jail term at Kot Lakhpat Jail here in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case before securing bail for his treatment abroad.
Stating that during his third stint, Nawaz brought China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the country, Shehbaz said, “The conspiracy against him began when the Chinese president’s tour of Pakistan was cancelled because of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s sit-in in Islamabad in 2014.” “And then in 2017, Nawaz was ousted in the Panama Papers case that hampered Pakistan’s progress,” Shehbaz added.
The PML-N party says Nawaz will secure protective bail ahead of his scheduled arrival and surrender to the court in the Al Azizia corruption case after addressing a rally at the Minar-i-Pakistan here on October 21.
Shehbaz had on Friday said, Nawaz would return and steer the country out of the economic crisis and also that his elder brother will be PML-N’s candidate for the slot of prime minister.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that general elections will be held by the end of January 2024. PTI MZ NPK AKJ NPK NPK
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