Mon 17 Apr 2023:
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will return from London as soon as the electoral preparations for the general elections begin.
He also made it clear that elections in the politically crucial Punjab province will not be held on May 14 despite the Supreme Court’s order and “all-out efforts” of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led by former prime minister Imran Khan.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently based in London, will return and supervise Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party’s electoral campaign, Geo News quoted the senior party leader as saying.
An ailing Nawaz Sharif has been living in London since November 2019 for medical treatment after the high court allowed him a four-week reprieve. The 73-year-old leader was serving seven-year imprisonment in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore in the Al-Azizia corruption case before his departure.
Holding provincial elections has taken centre stage in Pakistani politics as Khan has been pushing for snap elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
PTI Chairman Khan has been demanding early national elections since his ouster in April last year after he lost a confidence vote in Parliament.
Pakistan is tackling a major economic crisis as it awaits a much-needed USD 1.1 billion tranche of funding from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, part of a USD 6.5 billion bailout package the IMF approved in 2019.
Load-shedding and terrorism were eradicated during the PML-N tenure, the federal minister said, adding that due to the PTI’s “wrong” policies, the country is now facing multiple crises.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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