Nawaz will return to Pakistan tomorrow morning

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan on Monday through a Pakistan International Airline (PIA) flight, ARY News reported.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) sources said Nawaz will land in Lahore tomorrow morning through PIA flight PK-786.

He was staying in London to look after his ailing wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who has undergone surgeries for three times to remove throat cancer.

Sources said following a meeting with Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz has decided to return to Pakistan.

PML-N leader Mushahid Ullah Khan also confirmed that the ousted PM was returning to Pakistan.

Sources said the PML-N has decided to again elect him as party president. He would be elected the president after amendment in the National Assembly’s Political Parties Act, they added.

It is apropos here to mention that an accountability court has also summoned the ex-PM on September 26 in graft references.

Read More: Nawaz to soon return to Pakistan and head PML-N: Ayaz Sadiq

Sources said he was ready to appear before the court after his party leaders and advisors told him that why would he opted to go hiding if he had done nothing wrong.

An accountability court had last week directed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family to appear before it on Sept 26 in graft references against them.

Judge Muhammad Bashir had reissued summons against members of the Sharif family after they failed to turn up on September 19 in response to the court’s earlier notice for appearance.

He directed PML-N leader Asif Kirmani, who was present in the court, to inform the Sharif family about the summons.

The hearing was put off till Sept 26.

Read More: Before returning, Nawaz wonders what NAB reference is all about

While amid the speculations about Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s resignation and extending sojourn in London to evade accountability, the finance minister is already on his way back to Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday said that Dar would be accompanying him back to the country.

Talking to media persons before his departure to Pakistan via national-bound flight, Abbasi said that the finance minister would return to the country alongside him.

Earlier, there were reports that Dar had decided to extend his stay in London after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed an appeal against Lahore High Court verdict in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.

Earlier this week, an accountability court issued bailable arrest warrant against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for evading proceedings against him.

The court was hearing a reference filed by NAB against him for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.

During the proceedings, the anti-graft body pleaded before the court to issue arrest warrants of the finance minister for continuously evading court proceedings against him despite being summoned time and again.

Issuing directives for his arrest and produce him before the court till September 25, the accountability court also called for submission of surety bond worth Rs1 million to seek bail.

The anti-graft body has also made a written request to banks for freezing Dar’s accounts in connection with Hajveri Trust and the companies owned by him, sources said.