The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership has ruled out that former premier Nawaz Sharif will return although he has been refused an extension in visa by the British authorities.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement issued on Friday, said that the party supremo would not return to the country until his ‘full recovery’, asserting that “he can legally stay in the UK till the British immigration tribunal decides his appeal against home department’s refusal to extend his visa.”
PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, while backing the party president, claimed that Nawaz Sharif would not seek political asylum in the UK.
Shehbaz said that the Imran government had allowed Nawaz to leave Pakistan for treatment based on the reports of the medical board constituted by the government. “It is inhuman to do politics on the health of a three-time premier. The government machinery is bent upon defaming Nawaz Sharif for its politics, which is earning a bad name to the country,” he said.
“Nawaz Sharif will only return to Pakistan when he fully recovers and doctors in London allow him to travel (back to the country),” he added.
He claimed that Nawaz could legally stay in the UK till the decision on his appeal regarding visa extension.
The appeal was filed before the immigration tribunal on Thursday.
MARYAM NAWAZ: Party’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz said the visa issue had again proved how her father has made the PTI government nervous. “This fake government has accepted its defeat from Nawaz Sharif who is the present and future of Pakistan. By targeting a towering personality, the stature of a pygmy cannot be elevated,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb while addressing the media outside Parliament Lodges, said the request for extension in visa was filed with the UK home department on medical grounds on the advice of his doctors.
“This is a routine procedure for anyone who seeks to extend their stay in the UK and Nawaz has the right to an appeal in the Immigration Tribunal.”
His health had deteriorated while being in “NAB-Niazi alliance custody”, she said, insisting that the medical reports and tribunals had said they could not treat Nawaz’s ailment in Pakistan.
“Even Imran Khan had verified all the facts by the doctors from his trusted Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital. The provincial and federal governments sent Nawaz Sharif abroad for treatment after fulfilling all legal requirements,” she said.
She asserted that Nawaz would not seek political asylum in the UK, as he could legally stay in Britain till the immigration tribunal decision on the appeal.
She claimed that many PML-N leaders were kept in death cells, harassed, and mentally tortured but the PTI government could not prove corruption allegations against them.
FARRUKH HABIB: State Minister for Information Farrukh Habib told a press conference that the ‘fugitive’ and ‘absconder’ had been living in London with an expired Pakistani passport and the PML-N leadership had lost its sleep after the UK refused to extend visa on medical grounds.
Flanked by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Mohammad Usman Dar at the launch of digital dashboard of Kamyab Jawan Programme, Farrukh said: “The red flag is now in the air for Nawaz Sharif in the country where he had bought palatial Avenfield Apartments from the looted national wealth, which he had laundered from Pakistan.”
“You [Nawaz] have eaten enough pizzas and watched polo matches in London, besides having many cups of coffees and visits to Hyde Park. Now it is time to return home,” he said.
He said the PML-N leaders were setting new records of telling lies in public. It was the hallmark of their politics that could be traced back to the Qatari letter and fake trust deed the defense counsel produced in court, he added.
The minister reminded the people that Nawaz Sharif did not come to Pakistan even though his personal physician, Dr Adnan, had already returned from London.
AZMA BUKHARI: If Prime Minister Imran Khan had doubts about the medical board reports that had allowed ex-premier to proceed abroad for treatment in November 2019, he should sack his health lieutenants, Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Yasmin Rashid, or better step down himself for allowing him to travel, said PML-N Punjab information secretary Azma Bokhari.
Addressing a press conference along with deputy secretary general of the party Attaullah Tarar in Lahore, she castigated the government spokespersons for politicising their leader’s health.
“Nawaz Sharif has become a symbol of fear for the selected PTI government. After learning that the UK home department refused an extension in the visa of Nawaz Sharif, the government is confused, whether to celebrate the news or mourn it. Not a single day passes when the Imran Niazi government does not remember him [Nawaz],” Tarar claimed.
