International
oi-Prakash KL
As
Pakistan
heads
for
general
polls,
outgoing
Prime
Minister
Shehbaz
Sharif
said
on
Thursday
that
Pakistan
Muslim
League-Nawaz
(PML-N)
supremo
Nawaz
Sharif
will
return
to
the
country
next
month.
Shehbaz
Sharif
has
said
that
he
would
travel
to
London
to
meet
his
elder
brother,
who
has
settled
in
London
since
November
2019
for
health
reasons,
once
the
caretaker
government
takes
control
of
the
administration.
“Nawaz
Sharif
will
come
to
Pakistan
next
month
and
will
face
the
law
and
lead
the
election
campaign,”
he
told
Geo
News
in
an
interview.
73-year-old
Sharif
has
been
living
in
self-imposed
exile
in
the
UK
since
November
2019.
He
was
convicted
in
the
Al-Azizia
Mills
and
Avenfield
corruption
cases
in
2018.
He
was
serving
a
seven-year
imprisonment
at
Lahore’s
Kot
Lakhpat
jail
in
the
Al-Azizia
Mills
reference
before
he
was
allowed
to
proceed
to
London
on
“medical
grounds”,
according
to
a
PTI
report.
Nawaz
Sharif
was
disqualified
in
2017
by
the
Supreme
Court.
In
2018,
he
became
ineligible
to
hold
public
office
for
life
after
a
Supreme
Court
verdict
in
the
Panama
Papers
case.
Before
his
departure
to
London
on
a
four-week
bail
by
the
Lahore
High
Court
on
medical
grounds,
Nawaz
Sharif
was
serving
a
seven-year
jail
term
in
the
Al-Azizia
Mills
corruption
case.
The
Prime
Minister
also
expressed
confidence
on
his
party’s
victory
in
the
upcoming
elections,
and
he
would
work
as
an
active
supporter
of
the
party
within
a
government
led
by
Nawaz.
President
Arif
Alvi
dissolved
the
National
Assembly
on
Wednesday
at
outgoing
Prime
Minister
Shehbaz
Sharif’s
advice,
marking
an
end
to
the
current
government’s
tenure
three
days
ahead
of
its
mandated
period.
