Comeback king Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan again

Published: 08:15 PM, 20 Oct, 2023
Pakistan
Comeback king Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan again

Three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan from exile eager to make yet another comeback in the country mired in political and economic chaos, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The PML-N supremo has reached Dubai from where he will fly to Pakistan tomorrow (Saturday) ending his four years of self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.

Nawaz Sharif who was accompanied by Hussain Nawaz, Husnain Dar and Rashid Nasrullah reached the residence of former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s son Ali Dar in Emirates Hill in Dubai from Jeddah last night.

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The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo will fly to Pakistan on Saturday by a private airplane and journalists and party leaders will accompany him.

Earlier, Nawaz reached Saudi Arabia from London where he performed Umrah.

The former premier who left the country on medical grounds in November 2019 will touch the land of his hometown on October 21, 2023. He was serving a jail term when he was allowed to go to England for medical treatment.

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Ahead of his arrival, Nawaz had secured protective bail in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases until October 24 from the Islamabad High Court. NAB Special Prosecutor Afzal Qureshi told the court that the anti-graft watchdog did not object to pleas moved by him.

In July 2018, ousted Nawaz was handed 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption case and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was to be served concurrently.

After his arrival in Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif is supposed to address a mammoth rally at Minar-i-Pakistan, Lahore tomorrow.

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The 73-year-old is one of the country's wealthiest men, with a fortune earned in the steel business, but is admired by supporters for his approachable "man of the soil" demeanour.

Often draped in a red Gucci scarf, his political fortunes have risen and fallen on his relationship with Pakistan's powerful military establishment.

Fans call him "the Lion of Punjab", the eastern and most populous province where his support is strongest, and he is known to parade big cats at extravagant political events drumming up support.

- Private power -

Nawaz Sharif is widely believed to have continued pulling the strings of his PML-N, even after his brother Shehbaz Sharif led them to power last year in a coalition ousting Imran Khan.

Nawaz first took power in 1990 with the blessing of the establishment, but was forced out three years later by corruption allegations -- a theme that has dogged his career.

He had lived for years in Saudi Arabia and London -- where the Sharif family has extensive luxury properties -- only to return to Pakistan each time with renewed zeal.

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Stung by the nationalisation of the family steel business -- which he later regained control of -- Sharif is a fiscal conservative and champion of economic liberalisation and free markets.

He oversaw the privatisation of several key state enterprises -- including banks and energy producers -- in a process critics say was riven by corruption.

He was also one of the key drivers of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that underpins relations between Islamabad and Beijing.

During his various stints as premier he was accused of stacking courts with loyalist judges, tinkering with the constitution, and rigging provincial elections to shore up his party's power bases.

- Roaring back -

His second reign of power lasted two years and ended in 1999 with him deposed in a military coup after plotting to sideline his army chief of staff, Pervez Musharraf.

Nawaz Sharif narrowly avoided the death sentence in a hastily convened trial before being sent into self-imposed exile.

More than a decade later and he was back in power, in part because of his brother's diligent performance as chief minister of Punjab, regarded Pakistan's most powerful constituency.

But fresh graft allegations emerged when his children were named in the Panama Papers leak for holding offshore companies. He was later convicted over separate corruption allegations and disqualified from office for life. It was the third time that he failed to complete a full term.

Less than a year into a seven-year prison sentence he was granted permission to travel to the United Kingdom for medical care and then declined to return.

But with Imran Khan falling spectacularly out of favour with the military, Sharif's fortunes began to change last year. His return has been smoothed by legal changes downsizing the period lawmakers can be barred from elections.

Analysts also say there has likely been a deal with the establishment to prevent further court challenges.

But the "Lion of Punjab" must also win over a population weary of dynastic politics and weighed down by economic crisis.

Reporter Rao Dilshad

With input from AFP

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