Make July 25 memorable day in Pak: Nawaz Sharif to voters

July 16, 2018 15:24

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently lodged in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail, has made an emotional appeal to the citizens of the country to exercise their franchise in large numbers and respecting the vote, ahead of the general elections on July 25.

In an audio message, reportedly recorded in London, which surfaced on social media today, Sharif urged voters to make July 25 a memorable day.

Sharif said, "Give respect to your vote. Pick up the national flag and go out (to vote). Make July 25 a memorable day. Spread my message across the homes, streets and villages (of the country). Those who dishonour the power of vote, defeat those conspiring such plans so that they will hang their heads in shame."

He urged the people to pray for the speedy recovery of his ailing wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing treatment for cancer and expressed sorrow that he had to leave her in such a critical condition.

Sharif said despite being put behind bars and attempts to muzzle his voice, the relations and strong bondage between him and the people of Pakistan would never be broken.

"I have been kept in jail to keep me away from you all. Even my daughter and nation's daughter Maryam is also in jail. These people don't know that despite my arrest and putting me in jail, it will never destroy the strong bond between me and you. Neither the dictators of yesterday were able to break this bond, nor those who will pull the strings on the relationship between you and me will be crushed in the future," he added.

Taking on the previous governments in Pakistan, the three-time former prime minister said that the entire nation was converted into a "big prison", while he urged the people of the country to break the shackles and free ourselves.

Sharif lamented that in the last 70 years, the entire country was in a total mess and was not in sync of what Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had dreamt of.

The National Accountability Bureau officials took ousted prime minister Sharif, 68, and Maryam, 44, into custody in the Avenfield case, shortly after their arrival at Lahore airport from London via Abu Dhabi on Friday.

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