Nawaz Sharif to be PM if PML-N returns to power: Pak premier Shehbaz Sharif

If the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) returns to power in the next general election, party supremo Nawaz Sharif will be the next premier of the country, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said.

Speaking at a Geo News programme on Sunday (July 30), Shehbaz said the three-time former prime minister, who has been living in self-imposed exile in London since 2019, will return to the country in the next few weeks.

Nawaz Sharif to face the law

The premier said his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, 73, would face the law upon his return to Pakistan, adding that he was sent abroad on medical grounds based on a medical report prepared on the directives of former prime minister Imran Khan.

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.

Also read: Pakistan court acquits former PM Nawaz Sharif in 37-year-old bribe 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.

Term ends on August 12

Shehbaz Sharif said a notification of the dissolution of the National Assembly will be sent to President Arif Alvi a few days ahead of the completion of the tenure at 12 midnight on August 12.

Shehbaz Sharif, also the PML-N party president, maintained that the party would try to make seat adjustments with allied parties in the general elections, adding that the party would field its candidates in the constituencies where they could not reach a consensus.

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He said the caretaker set-up would be agreed upon after consultation with allied parties, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Raja Riaz.

(With agency inputs)