EX-PM NAWAZ SHARIF RETURNS TO PAKISTAN AFTER 4 YEARS OF SELF-IMPOSED EXILE

Sat 21 October 2023:

Nawaz Sharif, the deposed prime minister and proclaimed offender, returned to Pakistan on Saturday afternoon after a four-year self-imposed exile for medical treatment, Dawn News reported.

After disembarking, he went to the airport’s VIP lounge to sign legal documents and perform biometric requirements with party head Ishaq Dar. Nawaz is scheduled to fly to Lahore on the same plane that brought him here.

The PML-N supremo’s legal team including former law minister Senator Azam Tarar and party leaders were present at the airport to receive him.

Nawaz Sharif arrives at the Dubai airport for Pakistan pic.twitter.com/INDoG5TZ3v

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) October 21, 2023

Tarar said Nawaz will be consulted on political and legal issues upon his arrival.

He confirmed that the court staff also reached the airport and now “the legal process of security guarantee will be completed”.

Before boarding his flight, Nawaz said he was “happy to return”. He is likely to face a host of legal challenges before embarking on his election campaign to rev up his party’s prospects in the lead-up to elections due in Jan next year.

Dar said Nawaz would arrive at Minar-i-Pakistan at 5pm today on schedule to address the gathering.

Observers say the reason Nawaz is arriving in Islamabad instead of Lahore is that his touchdown in the capital was necessary to make bail, earlier granted by the Islamabad High Court on Oct 19.

“I’m going back to Pakistan after four years today,” Nawaz said today while speaking to the media at Dubai Airport. “When I was leaving Pakistan and going abroad I had no feeling of happiness but today I am happy.”

The ousted premier said he wished the country was in a better state than it was in 2017.

“I get very worried and disappointed seeing the situation in the country. The country that had to move forward is going backward now economically and unity-wise.”

Terming the situation as “worrisome”, Nawaz said there was still hope and “we should not let it slip from our hands as we are capable of fixing it because we spoilt it ourselves”.

He said the country had to get back on its feet as “nobody else will lift us up”.

“When I remember Pakistan back then, I get hurt, we had said goodbye to the International Monetary Fund, electricity was cheap, the rupee was stable, there was employment, roti cost Rs4, a poor family’s child went to school and medicines were also cheap.”

Sharif’s return has been touted for months by the PML-N, whose leaders hope Sharif’s political clout and “man of the soil” swagger will revive its flagging popularity.

However, the former leader has a conviction for graft and an unfinished prison sentence hanging over him.

Earlier this week, the Islamabad high court granted protective bail to Sharif until Tuesday, removing the threat of immediate arrest when he lands back in the country.

Sharif has been prime minister three times, but was ousted in 2017 and given a lifetime disqualification from politics after being convicted of corruption.

He served less than a year of a seven-year sentence before getting permission to seek medical care in Britain, ignoring subsequent court orders to return during former prime minister Imran Khan’s government.

His fortunes changed when his brother Shehbaz Sharif was in power and his government oversaw changes to the law, including limiting the disqualification of lawmakers from contesting elections to five years.

Politicians in Pakistan are often tangled in legal proceedings that rights monitors say are orchestrated by the powerful military, which has ruled the country directly for more than half of its history and continues to enjoy immense power.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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