LONDON/LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has left London for Pakistan via Saudi Arabia and Dubai after four years of self-imposed exile.
Nawaz has left London for Saudi Arabia for Umrah, after which he will reside in Dubai for three days and then fly to Pakistan in a chartered plane on October 21 to address a gathering at the Minar-e-Pakistan, where he will chalk out his agenda ahead of the next elections.
As Nawaz left the Avenfield flats ending his exile, he was seen off by his staff, family members and party workers.
He is accompanied on the Saudi visit by his close friend Mian Nasir Janjua, aide Waqar Ahmed, Karim Yousaf and a few others. Janjua, the owner of MIDJAC company, spent nearly three years in exile in London with Nawaz and returned to Pakistan just a few months ago.
The PMLN supremo was to reach Saudi Arabia for Umrah on Wednesday. He will stay in the kingdom for a week during which he will hold important meetings. He will arrive in Dubai on October 17.
The flight carrying Nawaz to Pakistan will have the name “Umeed-e-Pakistan”, which can carry approximately 150 passengers. “The booking has been made and all arrangements are in place,” said a source. Nawaz, along with party members and journalists, is scheduled to leave Dubai for Pakistan on October 21.
The special flight will land in Islamabad from Dubai before proceeding to Lahore, where Nawaz will address the gathering arranged by his party faithful.
The former prime minister arrived in London nearly four years ago in November 2019 in an air ambulance to seek medical treatment for multiple diseases after he was allowed to leave Pakistan by the Lahore High Court. He was accompanied by his brother Shehbaz Sharif and a personal physician as he was taken to his London residence at the Avenfield apartments.
Nawaz had arrived in London for a few weeks only and he has been getting regular medical check-ups at the Harley Street clinic. He decided not to return to Pakistan and initiated his speeches to party workers from London and has been conducting party affairs ever since from here. This is Nawaz’s second exile term after first being deposed in a bloodless military coup in 1999.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz said on Wednesday that party supremo Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan would guarantee progress of the country, like in the past.
Chairing a consultative meeting with chairmen, councilors and workers of union councils falling in the National Assembly constituencies NA-128 and NA-129 here, she said Nawaz Sharif was coming back to end problems of the country. She discussed with them preparations for the welcome reception, to be given to former premier and PMLN Quaid on October 21.
She said the youth, labourers, daily-wage earners had been deprived of unemployment and that was why Nawaz Sharif was coming back to create job opportunities for them. The PMLN chief organiser said all experiments had failed, and now there was only one solution, which was Nawaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday the PMLN was the only party which always took practical measures for the youth.
He said 68 per cent of country’s population consisted of youth, which needed to be nurtured, educated and imparted skills, and only the PMLN could do it. “Every youth will be given a laptop to revolutionise information technology in the country. From 2024 to 2029, agriculture, IT, minerals, energy sectors will be specially developed,” he announced and claimed that in the next five years, the economy would be established on a strong footing and people would be freed of inflation.