LONDON: After months of speculations and several timeframes, for the first time it appears that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan next month, ending his more than four years’ self-imposed exile from the country.

Sources present at a meeting where Mr Nawaz was speaking to party workers said the PML-N supreme leader spoke about his return, but a clear date for travel has not been disclosed.

PML-N workers at the meeting were eager to make preparations for their leader’s return and were discussing the logistical details of his comeback, the sources said. Mr Sharif confirmed his return to Pakistan in October.

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The elder Sharif’s return has been the subject of much debate in the country, with PML-N leaders last week telling Dawn he must return to engage with his vote bank and supporters amid the ongoing economic crisis.

Former PM Shehbaz Sharif is said to be returning this month. He spent the last few weeks in London undergoing check-ups with cancer specialists.

An oncologist at Welli­n­­gton Hospital in St John’s Wood told him this week he is free from cancer. Mr Shehbaz was diagnosed with an adenocarcinoma in 2000, following which he was treated at Sloane Kettering hospital in New York.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023