Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged his elder brother and the supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to return from London and lead the poll campaign of the party in the general election and become the premier of the nation for a record fourth time, a media report said on Saturday.
Addressing a meeting of the central general council meeting of the party on Friday where he was re-elected as the president of the PML-N, Shehbaz, 71, indicated that Nawaz Sharif would return to the country soon, Geo News reported "I was waiting for my elder brother — who has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons — to return to Pakistan and then hold the party meeting so he could hand over the PML-N's presidency back to him," he said during the meeting.
Nawaz Sharif, 73, has been living in London since November 2019 for medical treatment after a Pakistani court allowed him a four-week reprieve.
Nawaz Sharif, who has served as the prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, was serving seven-year imprisonment in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore in the Al-Azizia corruption case before he left for London.
Shehbaz said that a meeting of the central general council was held as the election commission's sword was hanging.
Premier Shehbaz Sharif was given the PML-N's presidency after his predecessor — Nawaz, the three-time prime minister — was disqualified by the Supreme Court and barred from holding any party position.
During the meeting, Shehbaz said that the PML-N needed young leadership, and commended Nawaz Sharif's daughter and the party's 49-year-old senior vice-president Maryam Nawaz for her hard work.
"You will see that the map of politics will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan," Shehbaz said. Coming to his governance, the prime minister once again reminded the workers that his government took charge at a time when they did not get roses but thorns.
“Inflation has broken the back of the people, oil prices are touching the sky. The coalition government decided together that we would face the tough times,” he said, adding that in the budget, the government increased the salaries of employees and pensions.
"We have still locked horns with the International Monetary Fund [and] Pakistan will continue on the path of development,” the premier further said.
On the criticism of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Shehbaz said that those people within the party pulling his leg have no right to remain part of the PML-N.
At the meeting, Maryam lauded the workers that stood with the party in its difficult times.
“The party is standing today because the workers stood by the party during its difficult times," she said.
She also lauded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for running the current government along with coalition partners.
"Be it a big or small decision, Shehbaz Sharif did not do anything without Nawaz Sharif's approval,” Maryam told the party workers. She also shared that her father, Nawaz, asks her to talk politely if she gets emotional during her speeches.
"Nawaz Sharif never asked anyone to put anything on fire. Nawaz Sharif and PML-N faced a lot of difficulties but never cried about them," she added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
