Nawaz returns to Pakistan ahead of general election
The chartered plane carried 164 passengers, mostly office bearers of the PML-N’S overseas chapters and media; rallies from various parts of the country pour into Lahore ahead of Nawaz’s arrival
Deposed prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan on Saturday ater spending four years in self-imposed exile in an environment that is extremely conducive for him to regain power.
Upon disembarking at the Islamabad International airport, he proceeded to its VIP lounge alongside party leader Ishaq Dar to sign legal documents for filing appeals in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and complete biometric formalities.
He later flew to Lahore on the special same plane that had brought him to Pakistan from a Gulf country.
“The process to sign and verify legal documents has been completed,” Dar posted on Twiter.
The chartered plane named “Umeed-epakistan” (hope of Pakistan) carried 164 passengers, mostly office bearers of the PML-N’S overseas chapters and mediamen.
Nawaz addressed a massive public rally at the Minar-e-pakistan ground in his hometown Lahore.
Rallies from various parts of Pakistan poured into Lahore ahead of his arrival. The PML-N worked hard to make the public meeting an impressive show.
Earlier this week, the PML-N chief’s smooth return to the country was ensured ater he secured relief from the IHC and an accountability court, averting the threat of immediate arrest when he lands back in Pakistan.
Last time, the three-time prime minister was ousted in 2017 and given a lifetime disqualification from politics ater being convicted for not declaring a receivable salary from his son’s company. The immigration process of Nawaz was completed following his arrival at the Islamabad airport.
The immigration staff stamped Nawaz’s passport for entry into Pakistan. Before that, he got off the plane smiling. The immigration process for all the other passengers and journalists took place in Lahore.
Soon before Nawaz’s plane landed in Islamabad, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N’S senior vice president and chief organiser said that it was “biggest day “of her life.
“The pain and suffering that Nawaz Sharif endured in the last 24 years are hardly comparable, and there are some wounds that will never heal, but the amount of times Nawaz has risen is probably not the same for anyone else,” Maryam said in a post on X.
As he led a caravan of workers in Faisalabad, PML-N leader Abid Sher Ali likened Nawaz Sharif’s arrival in Pakistan to “Eid.”
“Today is our Eid, as national prosperity is returning,” he said.
PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said today’s gathering in Lahore to welcome Nawaz Sharif was the largest in the history of Pakistan and the region.
Nawaz had been allowed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to proceed abroad for medical treatment as he was seriously ill during his continued incarceration. At the time, Imran Khan was the prime minister, who used to accuse and abuse Nawaz and declared umpteen times that he would put all of his political rivals behind the bars and would never be given any facility in the prison.
When Nawaz returned to Pakistan, Imran was in jail, facing an uncertain political future as he had lost all of his allies from the political field and military establishment.
Pakistan is facing overlapping security, economic and political crises ahead of polls already pushed back to January 2024, with Nawaz’s primary opponent, the fiercely popular Imran, languishing in jail.
“We are completely ready for elections,” he told reporters before his flight let Dubai for Islamabad.
“Our country which should have been at the heights of prosperity has really gone backwards,” he said. “How did we get here? Why did it come to this?”
Nawaz was serving a prison sentence for grat when he let the country in 2018 seeking medical care in Britain, ignoring multiple court orders to return.
Analysts say he has likely brokered a deal with the establishment and last week a court granted him protective bail, temporarily removing the threat of arrest.