Nawaz Sharif likely to return to Pakistan post Eid as PM Shehbaz orders diplomatic passport

According to reports, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would return to the nation after Eid on a diplomatic passport. Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, will have to go directly to jail upon his return owing to a court sentence.

Newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the immediate issuing of a diplomatic passport to his brother and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday. According to reports, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would return to the nation after Eid on a diplomatic passport. Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, will have to go directly to jail upon his return owing to a court sentence.

Meanwhile, according to PML-N officials, the jury is still out on whether ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan from London after Eid next month or once he receives a clean bill of health from his doctors or a reprieve from the country's courts in corruption cases pending against him.

The governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has launched a debate on the return of the party's supremo and three-time prime minister Sharif, who is anticipated to return after his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif became the country's new prime minister.

Although PML-N MP Javed Latif has stated that Sharif will return to the nation after Eid, which will be celebrated in the first week of May, the party spokesperson has stated that nothing is finalised regarding Sharif's homecoming until his doctors certify him fit to fly. "Mian Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan whenever his physicians in London have cleared him to go. Furthermore, the decision will be made in collaboration with the party leadership," Marriyum Aurangzeb, the PML-central N's spokesman said.

Since his removal from power by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case in July 2017, the administration of ex-prime minister Imran Khan has filed many corruption investigations against the 72-year-old Sharif.

Sharif travelled for London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court gave him a four-week clearance to travel abroad for treatment. He had made an assurance to the Lahore High Court, citing his record, to return to Pakistan and face the process of law and justice within four weeks, or as soon as physicians judged him well and fit to go.

Sharif was also granted bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case, in which he had been imprisoned for seven years at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Prison.