Pakistan’s ex-leader Nawaz Sharif seeks protection from arrest ahead of return from voluntary exile

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday sought protection from arrest from a court in Islamabad ahead of his planned return to the country, his attorney and officials said.

Sharif, who lived in voluntary exile in London until this month, is expected to return home on Saturday. He is currently a fugitive from justice, having failed to appear before a court in 2019.

He stepped down in 2017 after a court convicted him of corruption. Two years later, facing further graft charges, he complained of chest pains and was granted permission by his successor, Imran Khan, to travel to London for medical treatment. Once in London in 2019, Sharif prolonged his stay, saying his doctors were not allowing him to travel.

He has been wanted by the Pakistani authorities since 2020, when a court issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to return home from London.

A court in Islamabad briefly heard Sharif’s plea for bail and adjourned the hearing until Thursday, according to his lawyer Amjad Pervez.

Sharif is now expected to end nearly four years of self-imposed exile, most of which he spent in London. Last week, he traveled to Saudi Arabia, from where he is to fly to Dubai in preparation for his return to Pakistan on Saturday.

If he fails to get protection from arrest from the Islamabad High Court, Sharif will be detained upon his return. But if he is granted bail, he will address a rally in the eastern city of Lahore before appearing before the court in Islamabad to surrender.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party says tens of thousands of people will greet him when he arrives at an airport in Lahore.

Khan, Sharif’s successor and main political rival, is also imprisoned in a corruption case and is serving a three-year sentence.

He was ousted in a vote of no confidence in April 2022 and was replaced by Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, who served as a prime minister until August, when he stepped down to allow an interim government to run daily affairs and organize the elections.

The parliamentary elections are expected in the last week of January.

Khan, who was convicted of corruption under Shehbaz Sharif’s government, is still the leading opposition figure in Pakistan and enjoys a huge following, along with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Pakistan has been in deep political turmoil since Khan’s ouster last year. The Pakistan Muslim League is currently unpopular as Shehbaz Sharif’s government failed to contain spiraling inflation, though he says he managed to save to country from the default.

The Pakistan Muslim League’s leadership wants Nawaz Sharif to head its election campaign.