PML-N rules out Nawaz Sharif's return to Pak until his full recovery
Lahore: Pakistan's Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif has ruled out the return of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif to the country until his "full recovery", asserting that his brother can legally stay in the UK till the British immigration tribunal decides his appeal against Home Office's refusal to extend his visa.
Sharif, 71, convicted in two corruption cases in Pakistan, has been living in London since November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for medical treatment.
According to reports from London, the application of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo for visa extension has been turned down by the UK Home Office with the right to appeal.
In a statement issued on Friday, PML-N president Shehbaz, the Opposition leader in the National Assembly, said the Imran Khan government had allowed Sharif to leave Pakistan for treatment based on the reports of the government's own medical board, the Dawn newspaper reported.
It is inhuman to do politics on the health of a three-time premier. The government machinery is bent upon defaming Sharif for its politics, which is earning a bad name to the country, he said.
About his elder brother's return to the country, Shehbaz 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 said that he could legally stay in the UK till the decision on his appeal regarding visa extension, the daily reported.
The appeal was filed before the immigration tribunal on Thursday.
PML-N Vice President and Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz said the visa issue had again proved how her father was on the nerves of the Khan government members.
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.
The request for extension in stay was filed with the UK home department on medical grounds on the advice of his doctors.
