- Sunday, March 16, 2025
The 73-year-old Nawaz has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons.
By: Shubham Ghosh
PAKISTANI PRIME minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday (17) urged Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) chief and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif to return to the country and lead the election campaign also also become the prime minister for the fourth time, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.
Shehbaz, who became the premier in April last year following the ouster of Imran Khan, said while addressing a general council meeting of the party that he was waiting for the latter to return to Pakistan and hold the party meeting so that he could hand over the PML-N’s presidency back to him.
The 73-year-old Nawaz has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons. He has served as the prime minister of Pakistan between 1990-93, 1997-99 when he was toppled in a coup by late military dictator Pervez Musharraf and between 2013-17.
“The election commission’s sword was hanging which is why this meeting was held,” Shehbaz said
Shehbaz was given the PML-N’s presidency after Nawaz was disqualified by Pakistan’s Supreme Court and barred from holding any party office, according to Geo News.
He also said that the PML-N needed young leadership, and commended Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Nawaz, for her hard work.
“You will see that the map of politics will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan,” Shehbaz, 72, said.
This statement came a few weeks after Pakistani president Arif Alvi signed the Supreme Court Review of Judgements and Orders Act 2023, clearing the first step for Nawaz to exercise the right of appeal against their lifetime disqualifications within 60 days.
The Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz in the Panama Papers case on July 28, 2017, and it ended his third prime ministerial term.
(With ANI inputs)
