KARACHI: PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah has expressed doubts over the return of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan in October, Dawn.com has reported.

On Friday, after meeting his brother in London, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said after consultations with the party’s senior leadership, it had been decided that Mr Nawaz “will return to Pakistan in October”.

Speaking with DawnNewsTV on Saturday regarding Mr Nawaz’s homecoming, the PPP leader said, “Nawaz Sharif has no plan to come [to Pakistan] right now. I don’t think so.”

“His health is not good, he might not come,” Mr Shah added.

When the host cited Mr Shehbaz’s statement, the former federal minister asserted, “Indeed, he (Shehbaz) might have said so but I say that he is not well and even at the last moment, he can get unwell.”

The PML-N supremo has been residing in the United Kingdom since November 2019, when he went there for medical treatment following his conviction in a corruption case.

He has not returned since and faces multiple cases in Pakistan. He was deemed an absconder the following February. Later in 2020, courts declared him as a proclaimed offender.

Commenting on countrywide protests spurred by inflated electricity bills, Mr Shah rued the previous coalition government could have reduced power prices by Rs3-4 per unit.

The PPP leader, who was the federal minister of water resources in the PDM coalition government, said even now, the interim government could decrease public resentment by cutting down power prices by Rs10-15 per unit.

“Even right now, if Rs10-15 are reduced … I think relief can be provided to the people.”

When asked if he thought it was possible to do so as the suggested decrease was quite large, the former minister replied, “Yes, it can happen.”

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2023