New Delhi: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan who has been at the helm thrice and has faced convictions and military coup, returned to the country Saturday following a four-year self-exile in London.
Sharif had left Pakistan for London in 2019 in an air-ambulance after being granted bail from a seven year prison sentence as per media reports.
The 73-year old leader will be holding a large rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore later in the day, to celebrate his triumphant return. PML-N workers are putting out a strong show of support, with various leaders leading caravans of workers to Lahore for Sharif’s rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan.
حاجی وقار احمد چیمہ کی قیادت میں پی پی 59 سے قافلہ مینار پاکستان کی جانب رواں دواں#خوش_آمدید_نوازشریف#TheEraOfNawazSharif pic.twitter.com/HDHv6PgU49
— PMLN (@pmln_org) October 21, 2023
While Sharif has served three-terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1990-1993, 1997-1999 and 2013-2017), he has yet to complete a full five-year term. He returns to a very different Pakistan to the one he left.
Since 2022, Pakistan’s economy has struggled with a balance of payment crisis, soaring inflation and depreciating Pakistani rupee. Inflation hit record highs of 38 percent in May, while almost four-in-ten Pakistanis are multidimensionally poor as per the UNDP’s Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022, as reported by ThePrint earlier.
As Sharif looks to rebuild support for PML-N, the imprisonment of his main rival Imran Khan may hand him an advantage in the runup to a general election due in three months. A caretaker government under interim prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar has been running Pakistan since August.
Before departing for Islamabad from Dubai, Sharif had stated that he’s “happy” to return to Pakistan, but had wished it had been in better circumstances in remarks to the press. “When I was leaving Pakistan and going abroad I had no feeling of happiness but today I am happy,” Sharif is reported to have said in Dubai by Pakistani daily Dawn.
When Sharif was removed from office on corruption charges in July 2017, core inflation for the financial year 2017 stood at 5.2 percent as per the State Bank of Pakistan, while real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.6 percent that year as per data published by International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“It is very sad to see that things have deteriorated so badly,” Sharif is reported to have said before departing Dubai for Islamabad. “When I remember Pakistan back then, we had said bye to the IMF, electricity was cheap, the rupee was stable, there was employment, rotis cost PK Rs 4, children from poor families went to school and medicines were very cheap.”
The PML-N chief’s younger brother Shehbaz was the prime minister between April 2022 and August 2023, during which the worst parts of the economic crisis were faced by the civilians.
In Dubai, Sharif further said he represented May 28, not May 9 to a media query about the PTI workers attacking Army facilities in the second week of May this year. Pakistan had conducted a nuclear test at the Chagai test site on May 28, 1998 when Sharif was the prime minister.
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Elections in Pakistan
In September, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that a general election would be held in the last week of January. The polls were to be held in October. But the National Assembly was dissolved by President Arif Alvi on 9 August.
As ThePrint reported earlier, the Assembly was dissolved three days before its term was to expire, setting off the 90-day constitutional countdown for the next general election. However, right before the dissolution, the Shebhaz Sharif government notified the latest census, which mandated the ECP to conduct a delimitation exercise before the next election.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party and Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had demanded an immediate notification of dates as per media reports.
“Whatever date the ECP announces, everyone will (abide by it). My priority is whatever the ECP says. Pakistan has a fair ECP today and I feel it will make the best decision with regards to the election,” Dawn quoted the former prime minister before his departure.
A bumpy return
While Sharif faced immediate arrest on his return due to his conviction in various cases, the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court granted him relief earlier this week. But due to the legal necessities, he had to first land in Islamabad before carrying on to Lahore as per media reports.
Sharif has his task cut out as the public mood is not very friendly. According to a Gallup Pakistan Poll, published on 28 September, Imran Khan still remains the most popular leader in Pakistan, with a 60 percent positive rating in June. Sharif’s rating stands at only 36 percent, fifth on the list of politicians polled.
The PTI remains the most popular party, with some 59 percent of respondents having a positive view. The PML-N is a distant fourth with only a 38 percent likeability rating, highlighting the work ahead for Sharif before the eventual polls.
His political future is still in balance as he has to appeal against his conviction in two cases, where he was convicted – Avenfield and Al-Azizia. The PML-N chief signed the petition to revive his appeals, which were thrown out by the courts after his departure from Pakistan in 2019, the moment he returned to Pakistan as reported by the News International.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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