Nawaz Sharif says USD 5 billion offered by former US president Bill Clinton not to conduct nuclear tests

Former Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif highlighted the achievements of his tenure and recalled how he gave a “befitting reply” to India’s atomic explosion by conducting nuclear tests in 1998, even though then US President Bill Clinton had offered $5 billion not to do so.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived home Saturday on a chartered plane from Dubai, ending four years of self-imposed exile in London as he seeks to rally supporters ahead of parliamentary elections due in January.

Wearing a light blue kurta pyjama, a maroon muffler and a black coat, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo flew in from Dubai to Islamabad on the ‘Umeed-e-Pakistan’ chartered plane at around 1:30 pm local time.

He reached Lahore, considered a stronghold of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, to address a massive rally,”I am meeting you today after several years, but my relationship of love with you is the same. There is no difference in this relationship,” he told the cheering crowd. “The love I am seeing in your eyes, I am proud of it.”

Sharif, who was elected prime minister three times, is expected to face tough competition from the party of the former premier and his main rival, Imran Khan. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and is imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in a graft case.

Sharif spoke about the political victimisation he said he faced after his ouster in 2017. He compared the past performance of his government with his successor Khan, saying the life of the common man was much better when he served the nation as the prices of fuel, electricity and food were affordable.

Sharif has been a fugitive since he failed to appear before a Pakistani court in 2019 following his conviction and a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.

With inputs from agencies.