New Delhi: Three-time Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will return home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, primed to make a political comeback ahead of the January 2024 elections, news agency AFP reported. Sharif’s primary opponent, former cricketer, Imran Khan is in jail.
“This is a time for hope and celebration. His return bodes well for Pakistan’s economy and its people,” Khawaja Muhammad Asif, a senior leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Sharif has spent the past several days in Dubai, and will fly from there to the capital Islamabad, then on to Lahore, where his supporters will gather for a welcome home rally.
The former leader has a conviction for graft and an unfinished prison sentence hanging over him.
Earlier this week, the Islamabad High Court granted protective bail to Sharif until Tuesday, removing the threat of immediate arrest when he lands back in the country.
Sharif was prime minister thrice but was ousted in 2017 and given a lifetime disqualification from politics after being convicted of corruption.
