ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s thrice-elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to emerge from self-exile, planning to return to his country in October to lead his party’s election campaign, as confirmed by his younger brother and fellow ex-premier Shehbaz Sharif during a brief media interaction in London on Friday.
The elder Sharif has been residing in London since November 2019 after being granted temporary release from prison on medical bail following his conviction in a corruption reference.
He has consistently asserted that all charges against him are politically motivated and that he never indulged in any wrongdoing.
“Nawaz Sharif will come to Pakistan and face the law,” said his brother who is currently in Britain for political consultations with the founding leader of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. “There are no two opinions about it.”
The younger Sharif took over Pakistan’s top political office after ex-prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year in April.
Prior to that, the circumstances seemed heavily tipped against the PML-N and its exiled founder, with Khan’s administration widely accused of pressing the opposition parties into a corner.
With a changed political environment in the country, however, the PML-N founding leader is once again viewed as an aspirant for the prime minister’s post in his country.
“Transparent accountability is among the most vital requirements of time,” Shehbaz Sharif said. “It must be held across the board. Pakistan cannot progress without it.”
He added that it had been decided through consultation that Nawaz Sharif would “return to Pakistan in October and lead the election campaign” of his party.
Asked if the PML-N wanted elections to be held in Pakistan within three months, he said it was the responsibility of the chief election commissioner to hold the national polls after the president dissolved the National Assembly earlier this month.
Shehbaz Sharif maintained his party was willing to provide all possible assistance to the election commission to hold free, fair and transparent electoral contest in Pakistan.
Earlier today, a PML-N delegation visited the election commission to discuss the delimitation of national and provincial constituencies along with the new electoral rolls.
According to an official statement released by the election body, the delegation urged the commission to finalize both processes in a single phase to avoid unnecessary delay in the national polls.
