Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif made a rare visit to Karachi on Thursday as the PML-N seeks to expand its influence in the sprawling metropolis ─ traditionally a stronghold of the MQM and PPP ─ in the run up to the General Election this year.

The ex-PM addressed a public gathering in the provincial capital where he spoke of the difficulties he faced when visiting Karachi.

"I have issues when I visit Karachi," he said. "It is not the Karachi it was supposed to be in 2018."

"There are trash heaps everywhere, pollution, and unhygienic water ─ if there is water at all," he observed.

"Lahore has surpassed Karachi," he told the crowd which appreciated the government's efforts particularly in Lahore.

"No, this is not something to be happy about" he chided. "It pains my heart because Karachi could have been the best city in Pakistan. Sindh could have been a more developed province," he said.

"If we [the PML-N] are given a chance, I promise that Karachi will become a city that not only the people of Karachi appreciate, but that the world will admire," he vowed.

"And you know that when we make promises, we fulfil them," he claimed, explaining how his government had decreased loadshedding and terrorism and improved business.

Karachi has benefited a great deal from the steps taken by the PML-N government since 2013, Sharif reminded the crowd.

"It is not like it was in 2013... Where can you see terrorism? Torture? Extortion? Theft? Law and order issues? Mobile snatching? Kidnappings? Shootings? Strikes? The people of Karachi couldn't sleep peacefully. When mothers sent their children to school in the mornings, they would remain anxious until they returned home," he said.

"There was chaos in Karachi, and we ended it," Sharif told the crowd, recalling the launch of the Rangers operation in the city in 2013.

"Karachi has become a lively city again... What we promised, we delivered," he claimed.

"We will, God willing, change the face of Sindh and Karachi both," he said. "Karachi will become a city that the whole world admires," he vowed.

He is not the first PML-N leader to address the matter of development in Karachi.

In January, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif vowed his party would work day and night to make Karachi and Peshawar like Lahore if the PML-N was voted into power in the upcoming General Election.

Like his brother, Nawaz today also criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"They used to call the Metro bus a jangla bus. Now they're building the same jangla bus in Peshawar... when the elections are right around the corner. They should have started work on it in 2013," he said. "It was quite a u-turn."

He also criticised the BillIon Tree Tsunami project, claiming only 200 trees had been planted. "Where is the money for the trees?" he asked.

He reminded the crowd of a Mardan rapist and murderer who killed a minor girl in January and has yet to be traced.

"I couldn't even complete my term. I was removed because I did not accept a salary from my son," he said, repeating a common refrain of his since the July 28 Supreme Court Panamagate judgement that disqualified him from public office.

"They are plotting to keep Nawaz Sharif away from elections... maybe for my entire life," he added. "The people will not accept this."

Nawaz Sharif arrived in Karachi earlier today on a non-commercial flight with a retinue comprising PML-N leaders Pervaiz Rasheed, Ahsan Iqbal, Abid Sher Ali and Asif Kirmani.

The former PM is set to head a Provincial Executive Committee meeting in the city today, DawnNews reported.