PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif To Return To Pakistan In December: Report

<p><strong>Lahore:</strong> Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif may end his self-exile and return from London to lead his party in the next general elections, according to a media report on Saturday.</p> <p>On Friday, it was reported that the 72-year-old three-time former prime minister was given a diplomatic passport by the PMN-L party-led government.</p> <p>A PML-N party insider, privy to the matter, has expressed confidence that Sharif, the will finally return in December but said the long-anticipated homecoming will not signal the government&rsquo;s intentions to concede on the issue of early elections as demanded by <a title="Imran Khan" href="https://ift.tt/1x3Xh0s" data-type="interlinkingkeywords">Imran Khan</a>, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).</p> <p>The rumors that Sharif would return only close to elections to run a campaign were not true "as his return does not in any way means that PML-N has agreed to any early elections", The Express Tribune newspaper quoted the party source as saying on the condition of anonymity.</p> <p>&ldquo;The party will not concede on the matter of early elections, come what may. The PML-N, even if it loses its government, will not agree to this demand, and this is final,&rdquo; he added.</p> <p>He however added that the elder Sharif&rsquo;s return would mark the start of a mass contact drive, which would be followed by a workers' convention and other activities to invigorate party workers and supporters.</p> <p>He said that the party will try to fully utilise the remainder of the tenure to bring back the swing votes.</p> <p>Former prime minister Khan has been demanding fresh elections after he was ousted in April. The term of the current National Assembly will end in August 2023.</p> <p>When asked how was his party sure that the new command of the establishment would accord them the same velvet-gloved treatment as provided to them by the existing lot, the source expressed confidence that the new command would remain &ldquo;apolitical&rdquo;, not allowing either of the sides to derail democracy, &ldquo;and ask all the leading political parties to behave like one&rdquo;.</p> <p>The PML-N insider stressed all they had ever asked for was a level playing field.</p> <p>Meanwhile, a senior party leader on the condition of anonymity also confirmed that Sharif was indeed expected to return in the coming month.</p> <p>Earlier, it was reported that the former prime minister would return to Pakistan alongside his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who is currently on a month-long visit to London after the Islamabad High Court late in September acquitted her in the Avenfield property case.</p> <p>The PML-N leader last month flew to London to meet her self-exiled father after three years as the court also ordered the return of Maryam Nawaz Sharif's passport following her acquittal in the case.</p> <p>The source however also said that certain circumstances might force Nawaz to revisit his plan. &ldquo;Till a flight is booked, nothing can be said with certainty.&rdquo; Nawaz Sharif has been living in self-imposed exile in the UK since 2019. Former prime minister Khan&rsquo;s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government cancelled Sharif&rsquo;s diplomatic passport after he was declared a proclaimed offender by a Pakistani court on corruption charges. PTI PY AKJ PY PY</p>