PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz has thanked God after his father and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after four years of self-imposed exile.

“Shukar Alhamdulillah. Many came and went. They wanted to end Nawaz’s career and today they will be seeing him. He is returning to Pakistan with the grace of God,” she said at the Lahore rally on Saturday.

Nawaz has arrived at Lahore after landing in Islamabad. His flight to Lahore was a bit delayed after one of the party leaders went missing, reports said.

Maryam hailed her party workers for turning up in huge numbers at the gathering site and welcome their leader. “I thought that Minar-e-Pakistan was a big area but I did not know that it was small for PML-N supporters who had filled the ground.”

She added that she would not address the gathering as it would be her father who would address the supporters of PML-N.

She took a jibe at the opponents of Nawaz who wanted to bar him from politics and his career. The PML-N has claimed that the former prime minister was ousted from his office through the support of former army chief, his spymaster and two former jurists.