Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has recently claimed that former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to the country next month after more than three years of self-exile in London. During an interview with Geo TV, Shehbaz noted that his elder brother and three times Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif will shortly come back to Pakistan to face the law and lead the party campaign for the next general election. According to the Premier, his mentor will neither wear a hat nor use a bucket out of cowardness and fear, but face the cases with courage and lead the party with pride.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo and former Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is in self exile in the UK since November 2019, after the PTI government released Nawaz from prison and allowed his travel to London for treatment of his deteriorating health. Nawaz stepped down as the Prime Minister after the Supreme Court disqualified him for life for concealing assets in the aftermath of the Panama Papers leaks. He was further convicted in the Al-Azizia and the Aveinfeild Apartment references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during the last days of government. Interestingly, Shehbaz himself paved the way for Nawaz’s travel by submitting a fifty rupees stamp paper guaranteeing return of his elder brother within four weeks after completion of the treatment that did not happen over the past four years.
The court declared him deserter in absentia, while Nawaz was also wanted in multiple cases pending trials in different courts in the country. The PML-N led coalition government had made concerted efforts to pave the way for a dignified return of its top leader but unfortunately, certain legal complications along with an all time high risk of stern opposition from the current Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial, proved to be the biggest hurdle in this regard during the tenure of the coalition government over the past sixteen months.
Historically, the PML-N senior leadership and party workers believe that their political mentor was unjustly punished by the top judiciary and Nawaz had been ousted from the country’s premiership for the consecutive third time prematurely. Thus political pandits owe it their moral duty to rethrone Nawaz Sharif for an additional term and PML-N had particularly worked out on that strategy to make it happen by undertaking special legislation including adoption of amendments in NAB ordinance, and electoral laws that empowered the ECP to fix the lifelong disqualification term for the lawmakers upto five years. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif had been given relief by the Accountability court in several cases after the coalition government took control of the government in April last year.
In fact, Shehbaz had proved his loyalty with his elder brother despite recurrent attempts from the bureaucracy by offering him the top slot of the party as well as the country multiple times in the past. As of now, Shehbaz is still endeavoring hard to consolidate Sharifs’ political legacy under the patronship of Nawaz and for that purpose all constitutional, judicial and legislative hurdles had been removed by the coalition government before quitting the office ahead of the crucial elections in the country.
Unfortunately, Pakistan is currently embattled with serious economic, security and political challenges, and people are fed up by the worsening inflation, lawlessness and persistent political unrest that continuously stims out from the ongoing tussle between the two major parties in the country. Surely, Nawaz, Imran or Zardaris, are not the sole owners of Pakistan who would have to rule the country in turns, while the public act as audience during their fixed match for government/power.
The current day Pakistan does not afford family rule, in which important portfolios are always divided among the siblings, and close relatives like dynasty heirlooms. Nawaz’s return makes no difference for ordinary Pakistanis who have been in hot water over the past two years due to the terrible policies of successive governments. Pakistan and Pakistanis must come out of the fake heroism of certain political leaders by choosing talented and highly educated youths as their future leaders who steer the country out of the current crises and move the nation toward progress, growth and prosperity.
