Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif will return to the country in September, federal minister Javed Latif revealed on Monday.
Speaking to a press conference in Lahore alongside party’s spokesperson Azma Bukhari, Latif said that the people of Pakistan are wishing for the return of the former prime minister.
He added that it was impossible to have a ‘level playing field’ in the country’s political landscape, in his absence. Referring to Nawaz’s supporters as “doctors”, Latif said that “the people are his doctors and doctors change their opinion with time”. The PML-N leader also said that he wouldn’t allow the party supremo to go behind bars after his return.
He also lambasted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, saying his “strings are still being pulled by some people”, adding that Khan would have stayed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa if he hadn’t gotten the support of those who facilitated his rise to power.
Latif’s statement comes only a day after Khan claimed in his Lahore power show that a plan was in the works to disqualify him in the Toshakhana and prohibited funding case and bring Nawaz back in the picture.
Nawaz was sentenced in 2018, to a total of 11 years of imprisonment and was issued Rs1.3 billion fine in Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield properties references.
His sentence was suspended in 2019 by the Lahore High Court on medical grounds and he was permitted to fly to London to seek treatment, after which he did not return.
He is expected to return ahead of the general elections in Pakistan.
