LAHORE, April 5: Two daughters and wife of former Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif arrived here from UAE by EK-620 on Saturday morning.

President Musharraf has allowed them to return in relaxation of the agreement under which a total of 18 members of the Sharif family were asked to leave the country in December 2000.

Javeria, the elder daughter, is to be engaged with a cousin. No date has been set for the purpose. Rabia has no such programme for the time being.

“The permission has been granted on humanitarian grounds. Nobody would be allowed to politically exploit the opportunity offered by the government,” the ruling party chief, Chaudhry Shujaat, said while talking to reporters.

Asked whether Shahbaz Sharif could also be permitted to return home, the PML(Q) president said his was a different case.

When it was pointed out that the family of Mian Abbas Sharif had still not gone back to Saudi Arabia although it had come only for less than two weeks’ stay here, Shujaat said the families should be treated differently (than their heads).

Salman Shahbaz received his mother and sisters at the airport. No police were present.

“We have come back to our country. We love our homeland,” Begum Nusrat Shahbaz said at the airport.

She said she and her daughters had nothing to do with politics. Salman Shahbaz said that his father was also eager to come back. But, he said, he did not know when he would. For the time being, he said, his father was in the United States for post-surgery care.

Opinion

Editorial

Al Qadir ruling
Updated 18 Jan, 2025

Al Qadir ruling

One wonders whether the case is as closed as PTI’s critics would have one believe.
Atlantic tragedy
Updated 18 Jan, 2025

Atlantic tragedy

The only long-term solution lies in addressing root causes of illegal migration: financial misery and a lack of economic opportunities at home.
Cheap promises?
Updated 18 Jan, 2025

Cheap promises?

If promise of the cheapest electricity tariff in the region is to be achieved, the government will need to stay the course, make bitter choices, and take responsibility for its decisions.
Never again
Updated 17 Jan, 2025

Never again

The Gaza genocide has also revealed the utter helplessness of the Palestinian Authority in projecting Palestine’s case globally.
World Bank loan
17 Jan, 2025

World Bank loan

THAT the World Bank will give $20bn to Pakistan in the next 10 years to address some of the country’s most acute...
India’s dangerous game
17 Jan, 2025

India’s dangerous game

THE latest inflammatory remarks by India’s military brass about Pakistan mark a troubling departure from the...