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| GT Road rally: Nawaz Sharif to spend night in Rawalpindi |
ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif began a rally on Wednesday in a defiant show of political power after a Supreme Court decision disqualified him from office late last month over undeclared assets.
Sharif launched the "caravan" from Islamabad to Lahore despite concerns of close advisers about security for himself and the crowds he is expected to attract.
Thousands of supporters thronged the capital to take part in the rally, setting up camps all along the route Sharif is expected to take and address supporters.
Sharif was seen off in Islamabad by the new prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the new cabinet and other party officials, said Sharif´s political adviser Asif Kirmani.
"We really don´t know how long it will take, how many days, we have no idea," Kirmani told reporters.
He said a huge number of people were waiting for Sharif all along the Grand Trunk Road, that runs between the capital Islamabad and Lahore.
Nawaz Sharif will travel some 280 kilometres from Islamabad to Lahore through the GT Road with his cavalcade passing through 15 National Assembly (NA) constituencies to reach NA-120 from where he was elected an MNA in the 2013 general elections.Out of these 15 NA constituencies that fall in the route of the cavalcade, fourteen constituencies were won by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in the 2013 general elections and only one NA-105 was grabbed by former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
7:24
Nawaz Sharif is expected to spend the night at Punjab House Rawalpindi, where arrangements are being finalized for his stay overnight, Geo News reported citing unnamed sources.
6:27
The rally is at Murree Road in Rawalpindi. The former premier has moved to another car, according to Geo News. The caravan is drawing more people as moves towards GT Road. A helicopter is hovering over the crowd for aerial surveillance.
4:54
The caravan reaches Faizabad, the gateway between Islamabad and Rawalpind, as it continues its journey at snail's pace. The rally took six hours to arrive at Faizabad.
01:00
Reportedly President Mamnoon Hussain has telephoned former prime minister.
12:50
Absence of former interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan from the send off event was felt among the PML-N circles as top leadership of the PML-N was present when Nawaz Sharif started his rally.
12:38
Nawaz Sharif: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to serve Pakistan till next elections. Shehbaz Sharif has made Punjab a role model for other provinces and he still has much to do.
12:23
Nawaz Sharif was expected to address his supporters at D-Chowk but his cavalcade moved towards Jinnah Avenue, skipping the public appearance.
12:15
The IHC has dismissed petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members against the scheduled GT Road rally of former prime minister.
11:55
Nawaz Sharif left Punjab House almost two hours late from the scheduled time as he 'waited for the Islamabad High Court verdict in the petitions filed against his rally'.
Route to Lahore
The rally would first reach NA-52 (Rawalpindi III) from where former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was elected in the last general elections.
Then Nawaz Sharif with his supporters will enter NA-51 (Rawalpindi II), the constituency of Raja Muhammad Javed Ikhlas who is a staunch supporter of the PML-N and the Sharif family.
They will further travel towards Gujjar Khan and Sohawa and reach NA-62 (Jhelum I) which is also a stronghold of the PML-N from where Chaudhry Khadim Hussain was elected in 2013.
The caravan will cross Dina and Jhelum and move towards Sara-e-Alamgir to enter the area falling in NA-107 (Gujrat-IV). Chaudhry Abid Raza of the PML-N is the MNA in this constituency and a quite active political worker.
The cavalcade will then reach NA-106 (Gujrat III), the constituency of Chaudhry Jaffer Iqbal.
Then comes the constituency NA-105 (Gujrat II) that is the only one in the route of this caravan from where the candidate from the party other than the PML-N was elected. Former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was elected from this constituency in 2013.
The political commentators opined that no untoward situation should happen at the time of the arrival of Nawaz Sharif and his supporters in this constituency as the Chaudhry brothers are quite mature politicians and would not create any problems for the participants of the caravan.
The caravan would then pass through NA-101 Gujranwala VII (Justice (retd) Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema), NA-97 Gujranwala III (Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk), NA-96 Gujranwala II (Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan), NA-98 Gujranwala IV (Mian Tariq Mehmood) and NA-99 Gujranwala V (Rana Umar Nazir Khan).
It will travel through Sadoke, Muredke and Kala Shah Kaku and reach NA-131 Sheikhupura I (Rana Afzal Hussain) before entering NA-132 Sheikhupura II (Rana Tanvir Hussain).
The participants of the caravan will then travel from Ferozwala towards NA-118 Lahore I (Muhammad Riaz Malik) after which it would pass through Shahdara to reach the final destination NA-120 from where Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was elected an MNA and ultimately became the prime minister of Pakistan in 2013.
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