The spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Marriyum Aurangzeb, said on Saturday that President Shehbaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan tonight. He will land at the Islamabad airport. Marriyum further said that Shehbaz has decided to return to the country in view of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. “Shehbaz Sharif has decided to return to the country despite his brother’s heart condition,” she added. The development comes hours after government announced that it was suspending all international flights operations in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Shehbaz, in a video message, said he wanted to return to Pakistan amid coronavirus crisis but could not due to health issues of his elder brother. “But when I heard about Pakistan’s airspace closure starting from tonight, I asked my brother his permission to return to the homeland, which he gave,” he can be heard saying in the video.
Shehbaz is the opposition leader in the National Assembly. The PML-N president had left for London along with his ailing brother Nawaz Sharif last year. Shehbaz has been accompanying Nawaz since November 2019, when the three-time premier flew to London to get medical treatment after the Islamabad High Court granted him interim bail in a corruption case owing to his medical condition.
