Nawaz, Maryam to return home within a week

LONDON: The former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz plan to return to their homeland in a week, the Geo News reported, citing sources.

The decision to return to Pakistan was made after a consultation with senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as well as pressure from some party workers, the sources disclosed. Further, a suggestion to have Maryam Nawaz return to Pakistan before Nawaz Sharif himself is also under consideration as well, sources added.

The PML-N supremo and his daughter, according to the sources, intends to lead their party's campaign ahead of the upcoming general elections. Nawaz is said to have ordered preparations in multiple cities, accordingly, for the election campaign.

However, prior to his flight back to Pakistan, a detailed medical check-up and a computed tomography (CT) scan of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz will be carried out, following which the PML-N supremo will meet her doctors for a comprehensive discussion on her health, current condition, and progress.

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz had said their return depended on the condition of Begum Kulsoom, who has been on the ventilator for a few weeks now. She had explained that she would return on the first available flight as soon her ailing mother's condition improves. With regard to the electoral campaign, she noted her party is being targeted and it was not possible to keep it out of the public’s reach.

Meanwhile, briefly speaking to the media outside London’s Harley Clinic, Maryam criticised the use of violence in politics. “Pakistani politics needs to be immediately cleansed of violence,” she said.

In an apparent reference to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Maryam said: “Some people encouraged the tradition of violence in politics.” “There should be freedom of expression over differences in opinion,” she asserted.