Former PM Nawaz Sharif set to return to Pakistan

Pakistans former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to arrive here on Saturday after a fouryear selfimposed exile in the UK months ahead of general electionsThe 73yearold Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN supremo will fly in from Dubai to Islamabad on a chartered plane former finance minister and PMLN stalwart Ishaq Dar saidAfter staying an hour or so in Islamabad he will leave for Lahore to address a rally at MinariPakistan Dar told journalists on FridayAccording to the party Nawaz will likely land in Islamabad at 1230 pm and leave for Lahore after a couple of hours He may first go to his Jati Umra residence before leaving for MinariPakistan later in the dayThe reason Nawaz is arriving in Islamabad instead of Lahore is that his touchdown in the capital was necessary to make bail earlier granted by the Islamabad High Court on Thursday the Dawn newspaper reportedPutting up an emphatic show for the homecoming of Nawaz Sharif is very important to tell everyone around that the PMLN still is a popular party in Lahore which was once its citadel a PMLN leader from Punjab saidAnd the party leadership here will succeed in it as a lot more is at stake in this regardHe said Nawazs arrival would give a muchneeded impetus to the party at a time when the country was heading for general elections in January He will lead the party polls campaign and become the premier for the fourth time he saidIn Lahore the PMLN leadership including Shehbaz Sharif Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz spent a busy day on Friday to ensure that caravans of the party workers from Balochistan Sindh and GilgitBaltistan left for Lahore and those who have to come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab will leave on Saturshyday morningEven though the party has an ambitious target of assembling one million people the organisers on Friday placed only 10000 chairs Thousands of Punjab police officials both in uniform and plain clothes will perform security duties in and outside the venueThe PMLN has also categorically told ticket aspirants that their candidature may not be considered if they fail to meet the required target of bringing people to the venue on Saturday the Dawn report saidAccording to the party only Nawaz will speak at the public meetingThe PMLN has also hired two small aircraft to shower rose petals in Lahore on SaturdayNawaz left for London in Noveshymshyber 2019 on medical grounds after a higher court granted him bail for four weeks By that time he had served half of his sevenyear jail term in the AlAzizia corruption caseDuring the four years since then Nawaz was declared a proclaimed offender in AlAzizia and Avenfield corruption cases for his continuous absence from the proceedings on appeals against the sentencesThe Islamabad High Court on Thursday granted him protective bail until October 24 in both cases after NAB did not oppose the petitions filed by himHe stepped down as Pakistans prime minister in 2017 after he was disqualified for life from holding public office by the Supreme Court after a probe into his familys wealth following the 2016 Panama Papers leakSharif has consistently denied any wrongdoing and termed it as a politically motivated caseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever