Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that he will not leave the nation alone even if he is jailed or taken to the gallows.

Nawaz and his daughter will return home on Friday to surrender to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following the Avenfield verdict.

Addressing the Pakistani community in London flanked by his daughter Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N supremo said: “I am returning to my people because my country is in trouble.”

Those who are spreading rumours that I’ve sought political asylum should know that I am coming back, he maintained.

Nawaz further said that he intends to ‘honour the votes’ even if he is going to go behind bars. “I am the flag bearer of honouring the votes,” he remarked.

The PML-N supremo said that he has decided to return to the country even if his wife Kulsoom Nawaz is ailing, and added: “I owe to the nation that has thrice elected me as a prime minister.”

“We will restore the supremacy of the people,” Nawaz said and reiterated that there was no evidence of corruption against him. “Sharif family has been facing accountability for three generations.”

He claimed that there were two standards of justice for him and ‘beloved’, in an apparent reference to his arch-rival, PTI chief Imran Khan.

The former premier further said that he had been disqualified for not taking salary from his son, and asked if any proceedings had taken place in 40 other references.

Nawaz also said that he respected every institution of the country and that he has immense love in his heart for the martyrs and troops of the armed forces. “Strength of the institutions is tantamount to strength of the country,” he stressed.

Last week, in a verdict which will echo across the political landscape of the country for decades, the accountability court hearing the Avenfield reference sentenced Nawaz to 10-years imprisonment and Maryam to seven years.

Source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1755418/1-live-will-return-even-im-jailed-taken-gallows-says-nawaz/