Nawaz, Maryam to return home within a week

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz plan to return to their homeland in a week, 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, sources disclosed. Further, a suggestion to have Maryam Nawaz return to Pakistan before Nawaz Sharif himself is under consideration as well, sources added. The PML-N supremo and the former first daughter, according to the sources, intend to lead their party's campaign ahead of the upcoming general elections. In this regard, Nawaz is said to have ordered preparations to be made in multiple cities, accordingly, for election campaign-related rallies.

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 that her party was being targeted and that 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 rid of violence,” she said. In an apparent jibe at 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.