PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan next month: Ayaz Sadiq

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday claimed that the party supremo Nawaz Sharif would return to the homeland in January 2023.

The PML-N leader made the claim while speaking on media. The PML-N supremo has been living in London in self-exile for the past almost four years.

Nawaz will allocate tickets to the candidates for the next general elections, the PML-N leader said, adding that the polls would be held in the country in 2023.

“It seems that the assemblies would be dissolved between March-June 2023,” he predicted. 

The PML-N supremo had left for London in November 2019 following his illness as then prime minister Imran Khan had permitted him to go abroad for medical treatment.

In 2018, an accountability court sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, while he was also sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped an £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in the Avenfield properties reference.

Subsequently, in 2019, the Lahore High Court (LHC) after suspending his sentence, allowed Nawaz to go abroad for medical treatment.

A timeline of Nawaz Sharif’s case

• On the night between October 21 and 22, 2019, Nawaz Sharif’s condition deteriorated and he was shifted to a hospital.
• On October 25, Nawaz Sharif was granted bail on medical grounds in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
• On October 26, Nawaz Sharif was granted interim bail on humanitarian grounds in the Al-Azizia reference.
• On October 26, Nawaz Sharif suffered a mild heart attack, Punjab Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid confirmed the development.
• On October 29, Nawaz Sharif’s sentence was suspended for two months on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia reference.
• He was discharged from Nawaz Sharif Services Hospital and was shifted to Jati Umra.
• On November 8, Shahbaz Sharif requested the Interior Ministry to remove Nawaz Sharif’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
• On November 12, the federal cabinet gave Nawaz Sharif conditional permission to leave the country.
• On November 14, the PML-N challenged the condition of indemnity bond in the Lahore High Court.
• On November 16, the Lahore High Court allowed Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for medical treatment.
• On November 19, 2019, Nawaz Sharif left for London for his treatment.