The Hindu : Front Page : Nawaz Sharif returns home to a huge welcome

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 26, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Nawaz Sharif returns home to a huge welcome

Nirupama Subramanian

“I am back not for office but to save the country”

LAHORE: The former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan on Sunday to a tumultuous welcome that literally swept him off his feet, seven years after he quietly boarded a plane to exile in Saudi Arabia, and less than three months after he attempted to come back.

In the midst of his chaotic reception, so different from the one on September 10 (he was deported to Saudi Arabia just four hours after he arrived), Mr. Sharif told supporters that he was back not for office, but to save the country.

The Allama International Airport here was teeming with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party activists who caused several mini-stampedes as Mr. Sharif and his brother Shabaz emerged from the terminal at about 7 p.m., after their arrival from Medina on a special plane arranged by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

In no time, the brothers were being carried by supporters on their shoulders to shouts of “Long live, Nawaz Sharif,” “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif” and “The lion has returned.”

Mr. Sharif’s wife Kulsoom was also on the flight but did not come out with him.

At one point, the PML (N) leader, dressed in his usual white salwar-shirt and a black waistcoat, got on to a platform in the airport foyer to address the gathering.

“I have not returned for the sake of personal greed or office. I have come back for the good of the people, to save this country. I have come back to fulfil the responsibility that the people of this country have entrusted to me,” he said. He looked happy if somewhat overwhelmed by the riotous welcome.

The police had tried to stop supporters from reaching the airport. Section 144 was also clamped throughout Punjab province. But more than a thousand party workers managed to break through the barricades and poured into the waiting area of the airport, where the hundreds of waiting policemen had no choice but to stand back and let them go.

Mr. Sharif and his brother left the airport in a white Land Cruiser. An S-class black armoured Mercedes, flown in to Lahore last night as a gift to Mr. Sharif from King Abdullah, stood by, but Mr. Sharif did not use it.

Mr. Sharif was to visit Data Ganj Baksh, but at the pace the convoy was moving, it could take him several hours to reach the shrine, located in the old city of Lahore.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page