Islamabad: Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was elected the president of PML-N unopposed on Tuesday, reclaiming his position as the head of his namesake party.
According to a report in Dawn, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry submitted Sharif’s papers for party president in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while no other candidate from the party contested the election.
“I’ve been removed repeatedly but you keep bringing me back,” Nawaz Sharif said while addressing a gathering of animated party members at the Convention Centre in Islamabad.
“I love you too,” he said in response to raucous chants of “I love you!” the report said.
He said the party members knew the reasons behind his disqualification as prime minister.
“If they were not able to find anything in Panama [Papers], they should have told people the truth that we found nothing in Panama, thus we are going to take him out with an iqama,” Sharif said, according to the report in Dawn.
The commission will formally announce Sharif as the party president in a meeting of PML-N’s general council later in the day.
Sharif is slated to address the meeting, which is being attended by all senior PML-N leaders including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
According to a report in Dawn, on Monday, opposition lawmakers protested in the National Assembly when Law Minister Zaid Hamid introduced an amendment in the “Election Bill 2017”.
Earlier a politician could not hold any party position if disqualified by a court.
The law was passed to allow the PML-N to re-elect Sharif as party chief.
