ISLAMABAD   -  Now another whole month of December has passed and PML-N claims on Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan didn’t come true despite all the wishes.

The debate on Nawaz’s return to Pakistan started months back after the statements made by PML-N leaders in this regard and still is a topic of debate and discussion in the media. PML-N MNA Javed Latif, talking to reporters outside the NAB office in Lahore in September last had said that party supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan this year and will become prime minister for the fourth time — a claim that raised many eyebrows as Nawaz Sharif is not eligible to contest elections. He cited two reasons for Nawaz’s return to Pakistan.

PML-N leader and former National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was another party leader to announce that Nawaz Sharif has decided to return to Pakistan soon. 

The other party leaders backed the statements by these two leaders cautiously, suggesting they had a strong wish that Nawaz Sharif should be in Pakistan at the earliest but had no clear information in this regard.

It is to mention here that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif himself had also remarked at the end of a recent speech to his party members in Pakistan that he would be seeing them soon. 

The debate on the possible return of Nawaz Sharif from London has raised more questions that are being discussed in the political gatherings. Whether Nawaz Sharif is expecting a decision from the British Immigration Tribunal against him. Is something cooking behind closed doors? Whether the statements were meant to create hype and boost morale of the party workers as the political parties are gearing up for the next general elections. Whether 2022 is an election year and the party really needs Nawaz in Pakistan at the earliest. Whether PML-N has struck any deal with the establishment — the most awkward question to be asked to the party leadership in the ongoing debate.

PML-N leadership was seen bewildering in TV talk shows on the question of whether PML-N has struck any deal with the establishment as it was damaging the party’s hard-built narrative of “Vote ko izzat do”. 

Fawad Chaudhry, on the other hand, said those waiting for a deal on Nawaz’s return to the country would remain political dwarfs.

Every PML-N leader had a different point of view on the question of when Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan. PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz echoed Javed Latif’s ‘desire’, saying she wanted her father to return to Pakistan before December but clarified that “it will not be possible because his health will be in danger if he returns. Shahbaz Sharif, PML-N president and younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, also ruled out the return of Nawaz Sharif to the country until his “full recovery”. Former PM and senior vice president of the party, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in a recent TV talk show has also termed Javed Latif’s claim as his personal view. 

Javed Latif’s claim was immediately rebuffed by party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, who said Nawaz will only get a return flight booked when doctors would allow him. In the light of these statements, Javed Latif’s claim on Nawaz’s return stands nowhere.

Former PM Nawaz Sharif, convicted in two corruption cases in Pakistan, has been living in London since November 2019 after the LHC granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for medical treatment. According to reports from London, the application of the PML-N supremo for visa extension has been turned down by the UK Home Office with the right to appeal. In November 2021, the UK Home Office had rejected Nawaz’s request for an extension in his visa, following which the PML-N supremo’s lawyers filed an appeal in the British Immigration Tribunal. Nawaz will legally remain in the UK till the tribunal issues its decision on his plea for his stay in the country, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb had said at the time.

The question is what objectives PML-N wanted to achieve through the statements. The party might have succeeded in building a perception for the consumption of party leaders and workers that a deal is near and the days of the PTI government are numbered. The PML-N also succeeded in creating hype on the issue. However, PTI countered the pressure by saying that they will themselves facilitate Nawaz Sharif once he decides to return to Pakistan. They claimed it was due to the pressure on Nawaz’s stay over there from the UK authorities that the party has built up a hype on the subject.

Interesting to note that both the PML-N and PTI want Nawaz Sharif back in Pakistan but for their own reasons. PML-N wants Nawaz to come back to Pakistan to boost morale of the party and lead the party to victory in the next general elections. On the other hand, PTI government spokespersons are rubbishing such claims and daring Nawaz Sharif to return and face jail.

After hectic efforts by the ruling PTI to bring Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan failed, the ruling party hoped that the British authorities themselves would ask Nawaz Sharif to leave the UK.

Amid an already tense political environment, exchange of statements between the government and the opposition leaders on Nawaz Sharif’s return continues. On December 28, 2021, PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi claimed in a private TV show that Nawaz Sharfi’s disqualification would be lifted soon and he would return to Pakistan whenever he thought it best. Abbasi said the PML-N would file a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to lift the disqualification and the apex court would overturn its previous ruling on Sharif. Javed Latif, in a TV talk show, made another claim that Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan before March 23 and by that time, the ruling PTI will lose a key support. All the PML-N and PTI rhetoric on the subject could be a part of possible psychological warfare between the two main political parties, however, the question remains whether Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan in 2022 even.