New debate erupts over Nawaz’s return

LAHORE / ISLAMABAD: Rumors about the possible return of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif have sparked a heated debate in the country’s already busy political scene with the government and the camps of the opposition parties peddling and defending their own points of view.

Opposition leader and PMLN chairman Shahbaz Sharif categorically said on Saturday that Muhammad Nawaz Sharif would not return until his full recovery.

In a statement, Shahbaz said Nawaz could legally remain in the UK until his appeal against the UK Home Office’s refusal to extend his visa is decided by the immigration court.

There are reports that the UK Home Office has rejected Nawaz Sharif’s visa extension request.

Shahbaz said the PTI government allowed Nawaz to leave Pakistan for treatment based on reports from the government medical commission, according to a news report.

“It is inhumane to make health politics out of a triple prime minister. The government apparatus is determined to vilify Sharif for his policies, which are earning a bad reputation in the country,” he said.

Shehbaz said that Nawaz Sharif will only return [to Pakistan] after a full recovery and doctors in London allowed him to return home.

The appeal for the visa extension was filed with the immigration court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz, in a tweet, said the visa issue had once again proven just how on edge her father was with members of the Khan government.

“This bogus government has accepted its defeat to Nawaz Sharif who is the present and future of Pakistan. By targeting an imposing figure, the stature of a pygmy cannot be raised,” she tweeted.

The request for an extension of stay was lodged with the British Home Office for medical reasons on the advice of Nawaz Sharif’s doctors.

Speaking to reporters, PMLN Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said this was a routine procedure for anyone requesting an extension of their stay in the UK and that Nawaz Sharif had the right to appeal to immigration court.

Nawaz Sharif’s health deteriorated while in the care of the NAB and the government led by Prime Minister Khan insisted that medical reports and the courts said they could not treat his. disease in Pakistan.

“Even Imran Khan had verified all these facts after inspecting doctors at his trusted Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital. The provincial and federal governments sent Nawaz Sharif abroad for treatment after fulfilling all legal requirements,” he said. she declared.

She claimed that Nawaz would not seek political asylum in the UK, as he could legally stay there until a decision on his appeal by the UK immigration court.

Legal experts say the coronavirus pandemic has caused a huge backlog of cases in immigration court and that Sharif’s case may take a year or more to reach a verdict. Until then, he is expected to stay in the UK.

The Islamabad High Court declared Nawaz Sharif a declared delinquent in December 2019 after he failed to appear before it following his conviction in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills property cases.

Meanwhile, Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said those awaiting a deal upon his return to the country would remain political dwarfs.

In a tweet, the minister reacted to reports of a possible return of former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and accused the PMLN leadership of bending over backwards to ask for establishment help with concessions to Nawaz, but they are not entertained. He said that “those in the PMLN stood with ‘shoe polish’ but no one put their shoes on.”

“You are a dark chapter in Pakistani history. Darkness disappears when light shines and the same has happened in Pakistan, ”he argued.

Meanwhile, speaking at a reception to cut Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s birthday cake and celebrate Christmas, Fawad said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah gave a vision to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, while Prime Minister Imran Khan oversaw his mission. The minister said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah gave a vision to protect the rights of minorities.

“Imran Khan strives to create a modern and progressive Pakistan and at the head of the Islamic world,” he said. “Following in Quaid-e-Azam’s footsteps, Prime Minister Imran Khan is working to make the country an Islamic welfare state. And, today, when we speak of Naya Pakistan, it is the same dream that Allama Muhammad Iqbal had seen which was realized by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah ”, he underlined. Fawad said all policies and actions of the PTI government reflected Quaid’s thinking, adding that this was the Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was fighting for.

The prime minister’s special assistant Dr Shahbaz Gill said former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was not returning for political reasons but was being deported due to his passport expiring.

Speaking to the media at a wedding ceremony in Burewala, he regretted that attempts were made to give the impression that Nawaz Sharif was returning for political reasons.

He said Nawaz Sharif had traveled to the UK for medical reasons and would be sent directly to jail from the airport upon arrival. He said that information about Nawaz Sharif’s return was being released for political purposes, although it had nothing to do with any deal.

Gill said if Nawaz Sharif’s prison terms were to be abolished, then all prisons in the country should release all prisoners. He said Nawaz made a written statement in court that the Qatari princes were their family’s ATMs. The high-level PMLN leadership is either divided, confused or ill-informed about the possible return of Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking on a Geo TV show ‘Naya Pakistan’, PMLN General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal disagreed with Ayaz Sadiq and confidently stated that Nawaz Sharif’s return was subject to approval. of his doctors. “I categorically say that Nawaz Sharif will return by the next available flight once his medics allow him to do so,” Ahsan said.

Previously, Ayaz Sadiq, another pillar of the PMLN, had claimed that Nawaz Sharif returned as soon as the hour of justice had arrived for him. Sadiq’s claim has stirred the political scenario, as he has just returned home after meeting Nawaz Sharif in London.

Ahsan Iqbal clarified that the PMLN and the masses in general believed that Nawaz Sharif would be exonerated once he got a fair trial.

“Everyone knows that Nawaz Sharif was victimized in the name of responsibility, where he was disqualified on Iqama (permit) in the Panama case,” Ahsan said.

Stressing that Nawaz Sharif’s stay in London was for medical reasons only, Ahsan said permission to go abroad for treatment was conditional on the government contacting Nawaz Sharif’s doctors through from the High Commission in London if he felt or discovered that he was abusing his stay in London. , but the government has not used this channel once in those two years, knowing that the disease and treatment are serious in nature.

“They only use it for political ends,” added the PMLN leader.