LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan from London today (Monday), putting to rest all speculation by political rivals.

He had left for the UK about a month ago to see his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing cancer treatment.

All other members of his family, including daughter Maryam and sons Hussain and Hassan, are also in London and none of them will be accompanying the ex-PM on his return.

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Mr Sharif will board a PIA flight from London in the early hours of Monday and will arrive in Islamabad at around 8am, said PML-N information secretary Sen­ator Mushahidullah Khan.

A member of the federal cabinet confirmed that though there were no such instructions from the party leadership, he would go to receive Mr Sharif at Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

Sharif family members told Dawn that although his mother is unwell, Hussain Nawaz will also return to Pakistan, since he doesn’t want it to seem as if he is evading court proceedings.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is also in London for consultations on political matters, visited his elder brother’s residence to see him off.

Former PM insists he did not commit any corruption

The younger Sharif told the media that the decision to return was not taken spontaneously, but had been in the works for some time.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for the airport, the former prime minister said he came to London to inquire after the health of his wife.

In his remarks, Mr Sharif continued to question the court’s decision to disqualify him. “We did not commit any corruption. If this was about Panama [Papers], then why was I disqualified for holding an Iqama?”

Expressing dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s handling of his review petitions, Mr Sharif said he had never thought of not returning to Pakistan.

But the ruling party’s rivals, particularly the Pak­is­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership, had been claiming that the disqualified prime minister had left to escape accountability in the references filed against him, since his departure on Aug 30.

Mr Sharif has been summoned on Sept 26 in three corruption references, filed by the National Account­ability Bureau (NAB). No one from his side, family member or legal counsel, appeared before the accountability court in Islamabad during the hearing of the case on Sept 19.

Khawaja Haris, one of the lawyers for the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case, also advised the family to join NAB proceedings a couple of days ago.

Taking to Twitter to express herself, Maryam Nawaz Sharif termed her father’s decision to return home a courageous step in the face of the “biased” accountability process that awaits him.

In a couple of tweets on Sunday, she said: “Knowing what he faces is NOT accountability, the man decides to return. It is not about his person anymore. It is the battle of 200 million.”

In another tweet, she maintained: “It takes great courage and valour to be willing to pay the price for challenging what needs to be changed. Not everyone can do that.”

However, this was in contrast to her stance previously. On Sept 19, when asked on Twitter whether her father would face the NAB cases, Maryam Nawaz had tweeted: “He should not. Must not. Should not be a part of political & personal victimisation in the garb of accountability. It’s a FARCE (sic).”

A local PML-N leader told Dawn that Mr Sharif’s arrival would not only put to rest abounding rumours about the former PM’s intentions to avoid arrest, but would also put to rest any fissures among party ranks.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also wanted in a NAB reference has been abroad for the past four weeks, is also returning to Islamabad from London. A NAB court had issued bailable arrest warrants for him after he failed to appear on Sept 20.

Mr Dar will be accompanying Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who returned to the country on Sunday after a week-long visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, as well as a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in London on the way back.

Before his departure, the PM told reporters in London that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would be accompanying him.

Our correspondent in London also contributed to this report.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017