By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been living in self-exile in London since 2019, plans to return to Pakistan in October to lead his party’s election campaign, his younger brother and fellow ex-premier Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday.
The elder Sharif, who was thrice elected as the prime minister of Pakistan, left the country in November 2019 after being granted temporary release from prison on medical bail following his conviction in a corruption case.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the charges against him were politically motivated.
“Nawaz Sharif will come to Pakistan and face the law,” Shehbaz Sharif told reporters in London, where he had flown earlier this week to meet his brother and discuss key political developments ahead of the general election. “There are no two opinions about it.”
The younger Sharif said after consulting with the senior leadership of their party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), they had decided that Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan in October.
He did not specify a date, but media reports citing informed sources said it would be October 15. Nawaz Sharif, who flanked his brother during the media interaction, did not speak.
The announcement came amid speculation about the elder Sharif’s return, which has been repeatedly delayed and postponed over the past year.
Nawaz Sharif faces multiple cases in Pakistan, where he was declared an absconder and a proclaimed offender by courts after failing to appear before them.
Earlier this month, some PML-N leaders claimed that Nawaz Sharif would return in September, but no official confirmation was made by the party supremo himself.
The PML-N is one of the main political parties in Pakistan, which led a change of government in April 2022 after the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party following a vote of no-confidence.
The coalition stepped down on August 9, after the parliament had completed its five-year term. The current caretaker government is headed by Anwar ul Haq Kakar, who is expected to oversee the election process.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is also the president of the PML-N, said that his party had dissolved assemblies as per the “spirit of the Constitution” and that it was now the legal and constitutional responsibility of the chief election commissioner to hold free, fair and transparent elections.
He said that his party had held a meeting with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday and assured them of their full cooperation and facilitation for conducting the polls.
“Now Mian sahib will come to Pakistan in October and lead the PML-N to victory,” he said.
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