LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flew to London on Sunday, amid speculation over PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s possible return to Pakistan.
Marriyum Aurangzeb, the party’s Central Information Secretary, announced Shehbaz’s departure to London on her official X account.
Shehbaz will meet with his brother Nawaz during his visit Pakistan address different political concerns.
During these sessions, a plan for Nawaz’s return to Pakistan is also likely to be finalized. According to the party, two possibilities for Nawaz’s homecoming were being considered. The first was for him to return by the third week of September, and the second was for him to return by the second week of October.
Furthermore, the party stated that it had not been decided whether Nawaz would return to Islamabad or Lahore, but that both possibilities were being considered.
According to PML-N Punjab spokesman Azma Buhkari, party President Shehbaz is anticipated to return in a week to ten days, and there is no plan for Nawaz to return with his brother at this time.
She stated that Nawaz will conduct a news conference about 10 days before his return to explain his trip plans.
She stated that Begum Nusrat Shehbaz will also be examined in London during this time.
She stated that they did not know the precise date or place of Nawaz’s return. “What we do know is that Mian Nawaz is returning very soon,” she continued.
Begum Nusrat was recently treated in Itefaq Hospital Lahore for an illness. She was discharged the same day after having therapy. During her stay, she would seek medical guidance for the therapy she had received in Lahore.
According to a well-placed party leader, there were internal reservations about the existing party leadership’s seeming pro-establishment stance and the possible harm it has done to the party’s image.
He said that all of their pro-establishment measures would backfire if their party fell out of favor with the establishment.
He stated that it was critical for the party to determine its position before entering the political arena.
With Nawaz’s return, the election campaign would begin, and taking an anti-establishment stance would not only weaken the party’s ties with the powers that be, but would also be akin to publicly humiliating half of the party’s leadership, who wear their ties with the establishment as medals on their chest.
He predicted that the party would be on a steep slope.
He stated that if the perception that Nawaz was returning with the blessing of the establishment, as created by Rana Sanaullah in a recent interview, was not dispelled, it would bury the party’s narrative, leaving the party with no breathing room to create an anti-establishment narrative in the long run.
Regarding Nawaz’s homecoming, he stated that the PML-N Quaid’s travel plans would be entirely dependent on legal concessions and favorable winds.
When questioned about Lahore President Saif Khokhar’s trip to London, he stated Khokhar’s meeting with Nawaz was insignificant.