Nawaz Sharif to reach Pakistan in chartered plane from Dubai on October 21

London/Islamabad, Oct 11 (PTI) Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will reach Pakistan in a
chartered plane from Dubai on October 21, ending his four-year-long self-imposed exile in the UK,
according to a media report.
The flight carrying Nawaz will have the name "Umeed-e-Pakistan" which can carry approximately
150 passengers, Geo News reported.
“The booking has been made and all arrangements are in place,” the report said. The 73-year-old
three-time prime minister is expected to lead his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in
the general elections likely to be held in January next year.
Sharif, along with party members and journalists, is scheduled to leave Dubai for Pakistan on
October 21. The special flight will land in Islamabad from Dubai before proceeding to Lahore, Sharif
will address the gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan.
Sharif will reach Saudi Arabia for Umrah on Wednesday. He will stay in Saudi Arabia for a week
during which he will hold important meetings. He will arrive in Dubai on October 18.
Sharif will be accompanied to the Saudi visit by his close aides Mian Nasir Janjua, Waqar Ahmed, his
friend Karim Yousaf and a few others. Nasir Janjua, the owner of MIDJAC company, spent nearly
three years in exile in London with Sharif and returned to Pakistan just a few months ago, the report
added.
Earlier this year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) former head Bashir Memon revealed that
former prime minister Imran Khan and his then-principal secretary Azam Khan time and again forced
him to use all legal and illegal means, including the use of torture and anti-terrorism laws, to force
businessman Mian Nasir Janjua to give a false confessional statement against PML-N Senior Vice
President Maryam Nawaz in the judge Arshed Malik video scandal.
Memon said it was planned in the PM House that Janjua, who has been a 30-years-old trusted friend
of Sharif, should be made the main culprit since he is a businessman and would be an easy target to
become an approver against Maryam and senior PML-N leadership. Janjua then left Pakistan for
London and didn’t return until Imran Khan was in power.
On Tuesday, PML-N Senators Ishaq Dar and Irfan Siddiqui said Sharif would leave for Saudi Arabia on
Wednesday.
Refuting rumours pertaining to Sharif’s presence in Saudi Arabia, Irfan Siddiqui confirmed that the
former prime minister is still in the United Kingdom and that the visit to Saudi Arabia is of a private
nature as the ex-premier will perform Umrah.
Ishaq Dar said that there is no chance of Sharif being arrested on return to Pakistan. He said that
transit bail and protective bail would be obtained from the court. “Nawaz will follow the
standard legal procedures.”
He said that PML-N’s narrative would be around the economy. Dar said: “Recovery of the economy is
the best revenge.”
Sharif stepped down as the country’s prime minister in 2017 after he was disqualified for life from
holding public office by the Supreme Court for not declaring a receivable salary. He has been living in
London since 2019 after the LHC granted him four-week permission allowing him to go abroad for
his treatment.
He was serving a seven-year imprisonment at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Mills case
before he was allowed to proceed to London in 2019 on ”medical grounds”.
In 2020, an accountability court declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles
case. He is also accused of obtaining luxury cars from the treasury house by paying just 15 per cent
of the price of these vehicles.
He was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills and Avenfield corruption cases in 2018.