The British Home Office’s decision to reject Mian Nawaz Sharif’s application for extension in stay has resurrected a controversy about the legal/political options available to the three-time prime minister of Pakistan. He has already lodged an appeal with the relevant authority which will take time to decide.  

The ministers, toeing the government’s line, are insisting that Mr Sharif should return home and serve out his sentence, assuring him that he would be issued necessary documents for the purpose. But, the PML-N leaders are advising their supremo that he should complete his medical treatment before taking a decision on coming back. 

The predictable debate is likely to go on in the times ahead and both sides will stick to their respective positions. 

It is being argued that Mr Sharif can legally stay in UK till the completion of the legal process on his extension plea. 

Whatever future line of action to be decided by the former premier, he must not forget that he is not an ordinary being. He was the only person chosen thrice as prime minister of the only nuclear Islamic power. He has to choose between the comforts of London and his own and country’s prestige in the comity of nations. 

People will justifiably expect him to uphold the law in all situations – just like he is strictly following to the British law. It’s a legitimate hope that as a leader who had the longest tenure in power and is still the supreme leader of main opposition party he should give more importance to the law than even his health/life. 

Such a course will serve as a good precedent for his successors. This approach would also raise his stature in history. His family would feel proud – and proudly recall how he returned to the country ignoring threat to his life. 

It’s true that MNS has long arms and he will be able to work out many options if he ultimately doesn’t get relief from UK. Some Arab countries may be willing to host him, irrespective of the adverse effect of such a decision on their ties with Pakistan. 

But the question is: Should a former premier even think of taking refuge in a foreign country on medical or any other ground? 

Morally, such a course is unbecoming of a former prime minister. 

He must be a role model for the nation; uphold the law. 

As a Muslim MNS knows well that nobody can add even a single moment to his life even if all doctors and all medical facilities of the world are placed at his disposal. The time, cause and place of death of every mortal are pre-decided.  

Thus if, Allah forbid, he dies abroad while escaping the sentence he is supposed to serve out, his family will not be able to face the nation that gave the Sharifs so much honour and political status for such a long time. 

The Sharifs’ political adversaries would get a golden opportunity to revile the industrialist-turned-political family and it is possible that they all fall from grace. 

To avert such a possibility, MNS should not only personally come back to Pakistan without delay but also bring with him Ishaq Dar, Salman Shehbaz and other members of the Sharifs family living in London. They should face cases against them and refute all allegations with proofs. 

Otherwise it would inevitably mean that all ‘fugitive’ Sharifs are not in a position to justify their wealth and refute the allegations. 

It looks strange that younger brother Shehbaz Sharif is the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, a position which requires him to keep an eye on the political, legal and other aberrations of the rulers. But he himself is not in a position to make his elder brother – and that too a former premier – subservient to the law.  

This contradiction – and the one concerning the yawning gap between the political narratives of the two brothers – must come to an end. 

Maryam Nawaz’s assertion that the government was "well aware" that Nawaz is not only "the present of Pakistan but he is also the future" sounds hollow unless her father first returns to the country.