Former PM Nawaz Sharif likely to return to Pakistan in February

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 19 (ANI): Former Pakistan Prime Minister and PML-N supreme leader-in-exile Nawaz Sharif is likely to return to his home country next month, the Dawn newspaper reported.
On Wednesday, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman indicated that Sharif would return 'within a month'.
"Nawaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan within a month and I will go to the airport to receive him," the Punjab governor claimed in a chat with journalists, as quoted by Dawn.
This development comes in the wake of the dissolution of the Punjab and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz have been in the UK since November 2019 and October 2022, respectively, for different medical reasons, the report added.
"In the face of the rising popularity of the PTI chairman who was ousted as the prime minister in last April, most of PML-N local leadership is unanimous that the party needs Nawaz to be in Pakistan ahead of the polls if it wants to score a victory, especially in Punjab that was once the party's stronghold," a PML-N leader from Punjab told Dawn.
Sharif, 72, was allowed to leave for London in 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for medical treatment. He has since been in the UK, commanding the reigns of the party from there.
PML-N supremo's return was on the cards ever since his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif became Pakistan's Prime minister in April 2022. The party insider said the PML-N supremo takes his own decision with the consultation of his close family members.
In an earlier report, The Express Tribune reported that party consultation was only a formality, which was why giving any date before time was risky. (ANI)