Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan in September, claims Mian Javed Latif

LAHORE, August 15 (SABAH): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President and Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif on Monday claimed that former prime minister and PML-N supremo Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif — who is in a self-imposed exile in London on medical grounds — would return to the country in September.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore along with PML-N Punjab Secretary Information Azma Zahid Bukhari, Mian Javed Latif said a “level playing field” in Pakistani politics was impossible without Nawaz’s presence. He said the people had expressed their opinion and now wished for Nawaz’s return.

Mian Javed Latif said the PML-N would not allow the party chief to go back to jail upon his return, explaining that the party felt “injustice” was committed against it. He alleged that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on the instructions and directions of former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

Mian Javed Latif criticised PTI Chairman Imran Khan, and questioned whether those who had “removed” Nawaz and facilitated Imran’s rise to power had still not learned their lesson. “Some people are still pulling his (Imran) strings today. We know everything.”

Mian Javed Latif alleged that Imran Khan still had the support of “a few people”, adding that he would not have come to Banigala otherwise and would have instead stayed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “He came to Banigala after 15 days when he got cover.”

Responding to a question, the federal minister said the PML-N did not want friendship or enmity with those who “made governments and broke governments” and the party had a clear stance that it wanted all institutions, including politicians, to operate within their legal and constitutional limits.

He said that the “doctors” have announced their decision and Nawaz will come back in line with their call. “The doctors change their opinion with time. The people are his doctors; the nation has announced its decision that Nawaz Sharif should come back,” Mian Javed Latif said.

In 2018, an accountability court sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, while he was also sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped an £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in the Avenfield properties reference.

Subsequently, in 2019, the Lahore High Court (LHC) after suspending his sentence, allowed Nawaz to go abroad for medical treatment. He departed for London on November 19, 2019, and since then, he never returned to the country.