Back home, PM Nawaz strikes a defiant note

Sit-ins will not resolve any problem, premier reminds foes.

LAHORE: Faced with threats of street agitation from key opposition parties, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif struck a defiant note on Saturday, saying his administration was committed to its development agenda and that sit-ins would not resolve any problem.

The prime minister returned home after spending 48 days in London where he underwent an open-heart surgery. Speaking to TV anchors in a brief chat after a special PIA flight carrying him and his spouse Kulsoom Nawaz landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport, the premier advised opposition to let good things happen in the country.

“I’m as healthy as before and will continue working for the country,” he said. “The opposition should also serve the country,” he said.



Though he did not name any party, his political arch nemesis, Imran Khan, has warned of setting off a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf movement against the government after Eidul Fitr.

The largest political group, the Pakistan Peoples Party, has also given its workers and cadres heads-up for a countrywide campaign against corruption.

The two opposition parties started building pressure on the government after the two sides failed to agree on a mode of inquiry into the Panama Papers’ revelations that hundreds of Pakistani politicians, including the Sharif family, and businessmen have secreted their money in an offshore tax haven.

Responding to a question, the prime minister said he had been performing his official responsibilities during his stay in London and has returned home with a new vigour. Those who met Nawaz at the airport said he looked relaxed. “He looked calm and composed,” one official told The Express Tribune. “He seemed to have lost some weight after the surgery, but otherwise he looks in pretty good shape.”

The top PML-N leaders who turned up at the airport to receive the prime minister included his brother Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Abid Sher Ali and Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana. The prime minister had travelled to London on May 22 and underwent an open heart surgery on May 31. He was discharged from the hospital on June 6 but he stayed in London until medics cleared him for air travel.



From the airport, Premier Nawaz went straight to his home in Raiwind on the edge of Lahore. His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, shared on her Twitter handle the moments of his arrival at his residence. The video as well as the images she shared showed the prime minister’s mother kissing and embracing him. “Much awaited homecoming. Shukar Alhamdolillah. (Thanks Allah). Mother’s prayers change the fate,” she said in her tweets.

Much awaited homecoming ...... Shukar Alhamdolillah! pic.twitter.com/XlAT45f5jk

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 9, 2016

Maa ki duaein ..... Taqdeer badal deti hain ..... ❤️ pic.twitter.com/OGFxau55KO

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 9, 2016

Shahbaz Sharif thanked the nation for praying for the recovery of his brother. “Our mission is to serve the people of Pakistan. The country will be put on the road to prosperity and development under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif,” he said in a message issued by his media cell.

It’s unclear whether the prime minister will immediately resume his official engagements. “He will spend time with family on Sunday and some party aides might also call on him,” one PML-N leader told The Express Tribune. “It will be decided in a couple of days whether the prime minister should stay in Lahore for a few weeks or go to Islamabad to take up his official responsibilities,” he said, requesting not to be named in the report.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2016.