WHEN it comes to the much-anticipated but delayed homecoming of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, the conversations being had by members of the party are reminiscent of scenes from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, in which the protagonists spend all their time waiting for someone who does not show up.

Mr Sharif’s return to Pakistan, say PML-N politicians, will address the party’s leadership crisis and help it recover its lost political capital. Yet, the reality is that Mr Sharif remains in London from where he controls his party back home.

This week, Saad Rafique became the latest party representative to [say Mr Sharif will return][1], a claim that was dismissed by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb who said there were no set plans. But the PML-N continues to look towards the senior Sharif to bring the party back to life in Punjab, where the PTI’s popularity has been a reality check even for those in denial about public support for their rival.

Mr Sharif’s return and participation in the electoral campaign, his party believes, is the only chance the PML-N stands to win back its lost popularity, given the poor economic performance of the PDM government.

Hence, the reason for the delay, especially in the run-up to the elections and in view of PML-N’s abysmal performance, remains a mystery.

It seems as if Mr Sharif, a three-time prime minister, is waiting for relief from the courts, and to some extent a course correction of sorts on the issue of his lifelong disqualification from politics.

What the ‘mechanisms’ for such actions are, no one knows. But it is becoming increasingly clear that he will not return until he is given some guarantee about his freedom.

It is a pity that a politician of Mr Sharif’s stature, who has faced jail and persecution in the past, chooses to live in self-exile even while his party is in government. It is time he summoned the courage to face the reality.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2023