Nawaz Sharif has no plan to return to Pakistan soon: Pakistan Peoples Party

ISLAMABAD: Despite Pakistan's former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claims that his brother Nawaz Sharif will return to the country this October, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo who is battling health-related issues has no plans to do so, Geo News reported. Talking to local media on Sunday, Khursheed Shah said, “Nawaz Sharif’s health is not good, he might not come."

Responding to a question, the PPP leader further said, “Nawaz Sharif’s health can deteriorate.” Earlier, on Friday (last week), Pakistan's former PM held a press conference in London after his meeting with Nawaz and floated a new date for his elder brother’s homecoming. Flanked by the three-time prime minister, the PML-N president had announced, “Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan in October [2023] and lead the election campaign.” He, however, did not confirm a specific date of Nawaz’s homecoming, as per Geo News.

Nawaz Sharif departed Pakistan in November 2019 for medical treatment following his conviction in a corruption case. He has not returned since and faces multiple cases in Pakistan. He was deemed an absconder the following February. Later in 2020, courts declared him as a proclaimed offender. Reports of Nawaz’s return once again started making the rounds, earlier this month but no official announcement was made from the PML-N supremo himself.

Recently, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Review of Judgments and Orders Act, 2023 was "unconstitutional", crashing all the hopes of Nawaz Sharif, who was seeking to challenge his lifetime disqualifications, Geo News reported. This decision has created a cloud of uncertainty for Nawaz Sharif to come back to his homeland. But, PML-N seems to be confident about Nawaz Sharif's return.

Over the last year, especially since the ouster of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and the change at the helm in April 2022, at several points, some PML-N leaders claimed that the senior Sharif is “coming back to Pakistan next month”, as per Dawn.