Nawaz to address Lahore public meeting

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would address the public meeting to be held today (Sunday) at Minar-e-Pakistan under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), sources told The News here on Saturday.

The sources in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Nawaz Sharif, in his speech, would specifically focus on three issues resignations from assemblies, long march towards Islamabad and a grand national dialogue. “It will also be up to Nawaz Sharif whether or not he names top military leaders in his speech. The senior party members have not discussed this issue during their online interaction with him in the last few days,” the sources said, adding that Nawaz had some pain in his kidney a couple of days back. He was given medical treatment and now is feeling well.

The sources said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz would arrive at the residence of former Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq from where she would lead a big rally to Minar-e-Pakistan. They claimed that Minister for Defence Pervaiz Khattak approached Ayaz Sadiq last week and urged him to convince the PDM leadership to hold talks with the government, adding: “When Ayaz Sadiq informed Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz about it, they flatly ruled out possibility for any political dialogue with the government.”

Meanwhile, the PML-N has arranged one lakh facemasks having pictures of Nawaz Sharif and reading party slogans that would be distributed among the participants of the public meeting. The sanitizer tanks would also be placed at different locations of the venue but it would be a daunting task to ensure all the participants take these precautionary measures.

PML-N workers first broke the locks of Gate No 5 of the Greater Iqbal Park and entered the venue where they placed chairs, installed sound system and fixed floodlights. The PML-N has also issued necessary directives to its workers in which it urged them not to cause any kind of loss to public or private property. They were directed to contact the local leadership if they face any problem at the hands of the local administration.

When contacted, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi confirmed that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would address the Lahore public meeting and give his viewpoint on important national issues. “We held a party meeting and discussed all issues related to the public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan. The government will commit a big mistake if it tries to sabotage the public meeting of the PDM,” he said.