Nawaz Sharif plans returning to Pakistan next month

Pakistan’s absconding former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return home next month after over three-year-long self-imposed exile in the UK. Nawaz confirmed his return during a meeting with his younger brother and ex-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and party PML-N leaders Chaudhary Tanveer, Danyal Chaudhary, Chaudhary Nadeem Khan, Dr Anjum, and others at his London residence Friday, according to a Geo TV report. Although Nawaz, who has been staying in the UK since November 2019, confirmed his return next month, the exact date he’s planning to do so hasn’t been fixed yet, Geo TV reported a source present at the meeting as saying. However, it could be in the “second half of October.” This comes a couple of weeks after Shehbaz Sharif had said that Nawaz would return in October. “Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan in October and lead the election campaign, and this has been decided after the PML-N party consultations,” Shehbaz said as Nawaz stood beside him. He also said that Nawaz, who was declared absconding in 2020, will face the law of the land as he returns. In July 2018 Nawaz was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a corruption case. He was later allowed to travel abroad for treatment after being diagnosed with an immune system disorder. Before leaving he signed a Lahore High Court-approved undertaking, saying that he would return to Pakistan within four weeks. It hasn’t returned since. Shehbaz, who became the PM in 2021, also signed an undertaking, stating he would “ensure the return” of his brother “within four weeks or on certification by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan”.