Pakistan: Shehbaz urges elder brother Nawaz to return and take over as PM
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Buffeted by mounting challenges and multiple crises trooping in quickly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged his elder brother Nawaz to return to Pakistan, lead the election campaign, and take over as its PM for a fourth time.
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, 73, has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 owing to ‘health reasons’, the media reported on Saturday.
On Friday, Shehbaz urged Nawaz, who is Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, to come back, become the PM again, and lead the election campaign in the country.
Shehbaz is not just facing political and economic challenges, he is also sandwiched between the two powerful members of his elder brother’s family who actually call the shots in his government. One is his Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, whose son is married to Nawaz’s daughter Asma, and the other is his niece Maryan Nawaz, the daughter of the PMNL-N chief, who is the most visible, vocal minister in the Cabinet, and who is leading the vitriolic charge against former PM Imran Khan.
It is in the backdrop of this all-round mess that, while addressing the Central General Council meeting of the PML-N, Shehbaz said that he was waiting for his elder brother to return to Pakistan, hold the party meeting so he could hand over the PML-N’s presidency back to him.
Elections to Pakistan’s National Assembly, for which Imran Khan has been pressing for long, are due by October 2023.
“The Election Commission’s sword is hanging which is why this meeting was held,” Shehbaz added.
According to Geo News, Shehbaz was entrusted with the PML-N’s presidency after the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz and barred him from holding any party office.
Shehbaz said the PML-N needed younger leadership and commended Maryam for her hard work. “You will see that the map of politics will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan.”
His statement came a few weeks after Pakistan President Arif Alvi signed the Supreme Court Review of Judgements and Orders Act 2023, clearing the first step for Nawaz Sharif to exercise the right of appeal, within 60 days, against lifetime disqualification.
Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case on July 28, 2017. It also banned him from holding any public office for life for hiding unpaid salary from his son in the Panama case. A year later, the apex court said that a person disqualified cannot serve even as the head of a political party.
