ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided “in principle” to return to Pakistan from London ahead of national elections that are scheduled to take place later this year, a senior official of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) said on Monday.
Sharif left Pakistan in an air ambulance in November 2019 to seek medical treatment in London, a month after he was released on bail from a seven-year prison sentence for corruption. He has since lived in self-exile in the UK. He has been a central figure in Pakistan's turbulent politics for three decades and served as prime minister of the country thrice.
"Nawaz Sharif has decided in principle to return to Pakistan to lead the election campaign," PMLN joint secretary Tallal Chaudry told Arab News. "He is coming, and the party has started preparations to welcome him back."
"Our legal team has been looking into all aspects of the legal hurdles in the way of Nawaz Sharif," Chaudry said. "We believe his conviction and disqualification from holding the public office will be overturned."
He added that the party’s election campaign would begin the day Sharif landed in the country.
The Supreme Court in July 2017 disqualified Sharif from holding public office for life over corruption, which he denies. His brother Shehbaz Sharif is the current prime minister after Imran Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April last year. The Shehbaz-led parliament has recently approved legislation limiting the duration of a lawmakers' disqualification from politics to five years, a move many analysts and critics say is meant to pave the way for Sharif's return to politics.
The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of ex-premier Imran Khan has termed the draft legislation, which will become law after the president's approval, and Sharif's return to the country "part of a scheme" ahead of elections in October or November this year.
"The political coup that was made to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan in April last year was clearly aimed at bringing Nawaz Sharif back to power, but the political dynamics in Pakistan have changed now," Khan aide Sayed Zulfi Bukhari told Arab News.
"Majority of Pakistanis are firmly standing behind Imran Khan despite all the government crackdown against his supporters and workers," Bukhari said. "All recent polls and surveys clearly show Khan is winning the election with a landslide majority."
He added that both Sharif and Khan should be allowed to campaign in elections.
About the draft legislation aiming to benefit Sharif, Bukhari said this would make no difference as the PMLN popularity could not be revived through "petty tactics.”
"Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan would achieve nothing but political embarrassment and defeat in the elections," he said.
Legal experts said the draft legislation would ultimately land in the Supreme Court for interpretation and whether Sharif would return to Pakistan and politics would depend upon the court's verdict.
"Nawaz Sharif has already exhausted all legal options available to him to challenge his sentences and got no relief," Advocate Malik Usama told Arab News. "Only the Supreme Court will be deciding now if the legislation's retrospective application is possible."
"There are a lot of legal complexities that Sharif has to go through to get a clean chit from the courts to be able to lead the election campaign," Usama added, calling the draft legislation a “positive step” in terms of clearly defining the period of disqualification of a lawmaker.
Justice (retired) Nasira Iqbal said Sharif was a court absconder, and he should first surrender before the court on his return to Pakistan instead of getting his convictions overturned.
"The draft legislation is clearly aimed at benefiting Nawaz Sharif,” she said. “This is a person-specific legislation that the Supreme Court should strike down.”
