Tens of thousands of Pakistan Muslim League-N supporters gathered at the Greater Iqbal Park, in Lahore to welcome their leader Nawaz Sharif, the former three-time prime minister who returned home on Saturday after a self-imposed-exile lasting around four years.
PML-N president for Lahore, Malik Saif ul Malook Khokhar, told The National that the rally was going to be the biggest in the city's history in terms of attendance.
“Party activists have started arriving at the rally venue since Friday afternoon. We expect more than one million participants in this rally today,” he said.
“So far, the caravans of the party supporters from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces have arrived and more people are still coming to the venue where the party leader is to speak in the evening,” he added.
More than 100,000 chairs have been arranged at the park while tents were also set up since Friday as many activists spent the night there, Imdad Hussain, PML-N’s former senior minister for Punjab and part of the rally's organising team, told The National.
“Our leader is going to present a charter for Pakistan of the year 2018, when there was an economic boom and peace in the country,” Mr Hussain said.
Malik Zarawar Shinwari, additional secretary information for PML-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that more than 100,000 party activists had left the province for Lahore.
“One caravan left Peshawar via railway last night, while another caravan is now being led by PML-N central leader Amir Muqam to Lahore, comprising hundreds of vehicles,” he added.
Things seems to have turned around for Mr Sharif, who has clashed with Pakistan’s powerful security establishment throughout his lengthy career.
During his last stay in Pakistan, Mr Sharif was imprisoned for corruption, but he was allowed to leave jail on medical grounds in November 2019.
A Pakistan high court on Thursday barred authorities from arresting him.
Mr Sharif had sought protection from arrest from a court in Islamabad before his return to the country, according to his lawyer.
Amjad Pervez said that Mr Sharif was granted protective bail, which orders authorities not to arrest him until he personally appears before the court on October 24.
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')
Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')
Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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