Conducting elections is ECP's mandate, no one else's: Nawaz

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Tuesday said that only the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had the mandate to conduct elections, and no one else could do this.

Speaking to the media in London, the former premier said that whatever was happening today, had been detrimental to the election process.

He added that they also played a part in the fight against terrorism and he saluted the soldiers who fought the enemy in that war.

Nawaz urged the ECP to take over all arrangements for the forthcoming elections, adding that they would not accept any institution's interference in elections.

"Our patience should not be tested any further," he warned.

The former premier went on to say that they were seeing which political party was getting the better end of the deal, adding, "If any action is being taken then it is being taken against Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz."

He alleged that his party's members were made to re-align with Imran Khan's party.

"PML-N and the nation will not accept these things in any case," Nawaz cleared.

"What wrong have we done? We made Pakistan a nuclear state; we are patriotic individuals," he said, questioning who else could be a bigger patriot than him.

Noting that the Muslim League was behind the creation of Pakistan, the former premier lamented that conspiracies were hatched against the same party today.

Nawaz, who is in London to tend to his ailing wife, is expected to return to country on July 13, after he was sentenced to 11 years in prison by an accountability court in Avenfield properties reference against the Sharif family.

Last week, he was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped a £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in the Avenfield properties reference, while his daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million).

Additionally, Nawaz's son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar has been given a one year sentence without any fine.

The NAB shifted Captain (retired) Safdar Awan to the Adiala jail, after he was earlier presented in an accountability court in Islamabad on Monday.

The son-in-law of the deposed prime minister was arrested by the anti-graft body on Sunday.