Pakistan’s three-time premier Nawaz Sharif arrives home from exile

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif arrived home on Saturday from four years of self-imposed exile in London to kick-start his party’s campaign for an election early next year, targeting former premier Imran Khan as the biggest rival.

The 73-year-old veteran politician was set to lead a rally in his eastern home town of Lahore after his chartered plane’s arrival in Islamabad with more than 150 people from his party and media organisations on board, the party and sources said.

After a brief stay in the Islamabad airport lounge to sign and file appeals against the convictions he was in jail for before he left the country, Sharif will fly to Lahore.

“The process to sign and verify legal documents have been completed,” close aide Ishaq Dar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Supporters from various regions of the South Asian country were pouring into Lahore ahead of his arrival, a party spokesperson said. Heavy police contingents were deployed to guard the rally’s venue, said police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi.

Sharif had not set foot in Pakistan since

he left for London in 2019 to receive medical treatment while serving a 14-year prison sentence

for corruption.

His convictions are still in force, but a court on Thursday barred the authorities from arresting him until Tuesday, when he is to appear in court.

While he cannot run again for election or hold public office because of his convictions, his legal team says he plans to appeal and his party says he aims to become prime minister for a fourth time.

Sharif’s biggest challenge will be to wrest back his support base from his main rival, Imran Khan, who despite being in jail remains popular following his ouster from the premiership in 2022.

Khan, too, is disqualified from the election by virtue of

his graft conviction in August,

which he has appealed against.

Sharif’s return comes at a time when the nuclear-armed South Asian nation of 241 million people is experiencing the impact of an economic crisis, which was exacerbated during the 16-month rule of his younger brother, Mr Shehbaz Sharif, who led a coalition government after Khan’s removal.

The elder Sharif has a record of pursuing economic growth and development. When he was removed as premier in 2017, Pakistan’s gross domestic product growth rate was 5.8 per cent and inflation was hovering around just 4 per cent.

In September, inflation registered at more than 31 per cent year on year, and growth has been projected to be less than 2 per cent in this financial year.

“It is very sad to see that things have deteriorated so badly,” Sharif said before boarding the plane, in comments telecast by local TV channels.

Rising living costs have become unbearable for many Pakistanis after the younger Mr Sharif’s coalition government had to agree to harsh fiscal adjustments

for funding to resume from the International Monetary Fund,

which had suspended payments after Khan scuttled a deal in his last days in office.

Nawaz Sharif has said he was ousted from government at the behest of the powerful military after he fell out with top generals, who play an outsized role in Pakistani politics.

He says the military then backed Khan in the 2018 General Election. Khan and the military deny this.

However, the military and Khan fell out in 2022 and, over the last few months, they have been involved in a bruising showdown, which has afforded Sharif some political space.

The military denies that it interferes in politics.

“An evergreen rule about Pakistani politics is that your chances of taking power are always greater when you’re in the good books of the army,” said Mr Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre.

“Over his long political career, Sharif’s relationship with the military brass has blown hot and cold. It’s now in a relatively cordial phase, and he stands to benefit politically.” REUTERS