Nawaz decides to end London exile

ISLAMABAD:

Three-time former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif will finally return to Pakistan from the United Kingdom on Oct 21, ending his roughly four-year exile.

The eagerly anticipated announcement of the three-time former premier's return was made by his younger brother and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in an interaction with the media on Tuesday in London.

The decision that Nawaz will head to Pakistan next month has been taken by the party leadership after a detailed deliberation, Shehbaz said.

Meanwhile, a statement by Shehbaz, shared by the PML-N on the social media platform X, said that Nawaz would come to Pakistan on Oct 21 and would be given an exemplary welcome.

The statement came on the heels of repeated announcements as well as postponements regarding the PML-N supremo’s return.

In his short speech in London, Shehbaz maintained that the whole country awaited Nawaz’s return, and that Pakistan as well as its economy would start progressing from the point where the former premier had left it in 2017.

Shehbaz observed that his elder brother was deprived of the premiership after he was convicted in a “false case through conspiracy”.

Read Nawaz to return next month to face pending cases: Shehbaz

It was not Nawaz who was barred from ruling the country but the people of Pakistan were deprived of the progress and prosperity, he said.

Though Shehbaz reiterated in his speech that the PML-N supremo would return next month and be given an unprecedented welcome, he had failed to reach the Lahore airport when Nawaz, along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, returned from London to face the sentence in the Avenfield Apartments reference last time.

Upon their arrival, both the father and daughter were arrested and flown to Islamabad to be sentenced in the London flats case. Though the PML-N had planned a show of strength near the airport for the elder Sharif’s homecoming, they could not reach anywhere close.

Nawaz, who is embattled in various cases, including the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Avenfield, Al-Azizia and Hill Metal and the Flagship references, had left for his current abode in London in Dec 2019 on the pretext of a medical ailment after the Lahore High Court had granted him permission to travel abroad for four weeks.

At the time, Nawaz was incarcerated after an accountability court found him guilty in the Al Azizia corruption reference after being given bail in the London flats references.

Now, the PML-N supreme leader will be returning home after almost four years just when the elections are around the corner. The legal hurdles, however, await him.

The London flats reference in which Nawaz’s daughter and son in-law had already been acquitted was still pending against him at the Islamabad High Court. His sentence in the Al-Azizia was also pending.

Read More Nawaz not to ‘adopt anti-establishment stance’

Besides, the PML-N supreme leader was declared an absconder and a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhanna case after he did not appear before the court concerned despite the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants against him.

Apart from the warrants and sentences, the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz from holding public office for lifetime.

Legally, Nawaz is currently considered a proclaimed offender after being sentenced for seven years in the Al-Azizia reference.

During his premiership, Shehbaz and several members of the federal cabinet frequently visited Nawaz in London to seek guidance on government’s policies and affairs.

Even during his premiership, Shehbaz repeatedly announced that Nawaz would be made the prime minister for the fourth time as he would be the PML-N’s candidate for the post.

Several party officials were asked to comment about the legal hurdles faced by Nawaz – whether the PML-N supremo would go to jail on his arrival, and if not, how would he avoid imprisonment, but no reply was received.