• ‘N’ supremo set to return today by chartered plane
• Will land in Islamabad to ‘make bail’, then head to Lahore
• Scheduled to address at Minar-i-Pakistan this evening
• Party tasks ticket aspirants with ‘bringing crowds’

LAHORE: PML-N sup­remo Nawaz Sharif is all set to arrive in Pakistan today (Saturday) after a four-year self-imposed exile in the UK, and his party is rallying its base, urging supporters to converge at Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore from around the country to greet their leader and showcase the undiminished popularity of the party, which has been declared ‘irrelevant’ by its rivals.

Former finance minister and PML-N stalwart Ishaq Dar confirmed that the elder Sharif would fly in from Dubai to Islamabad via a chartered plane on Saturday afternoon.

“After staying an hour or so in Islamabad, he will leave for Lahore to address a rally at Minar-i-Pakistan,” Mr Dar told journalists on Friday.

According to the party, the elder Sharif will likely land in Islamabad at 12.30pm on a chartered plane and leave for Lahore after a couple of hours. He may first go to his Jati Umra residence before leaving for Minar-i-Pakistan later in the day.

Observers say the reason Nawaz is arriving in Islamabad instead of Lahore is that his touchdown in the capital was necessary to make bail, earlier granted by the Islamabad High Court on Thursday.

“Putting up an emphatic show for the homecoming of Nawaz Sharif is very important to tell everyone around that the PML-N still is a popular party in Lahore, which was once its citadel,” a PMLN leader from Punjab told Dawn on Friday. “And the party leadership here will succeed in it, as a lot more is at stake in this regard.”

He said Nawaz’s arrival would give a much-needed impetus to the party at a time when the country was heading for general elections in a few months. “He will lead the party polls campaign and become the premier for the fourth time,” he said.

In Lahore, the PML-N leadership, including Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz, spent a busy day on Friday to ensure that caravans of the party workers from Balochistan, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan left for Lahore and those who have to come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab will leave on Satur­day morning. The trio also paid a visit to Minar-i-Pakistan to see the arrangements.

Qawwali, rose petals

On Friday, PML-N Punjab and Lahore presidents Rana Sanaullah and Saiful Malook Khokhar took a helicopter ride to have an aerial view of the rally’s venue. To charge up local workers, the party also arranged a qawwali night at the venue.

The party reportedly has made staying arrangements for those arriving in Lahore on Friday night.

Some former lawmakers of Lahore have been tasked with arranging accommodation and food.

Even though the party has an ambitious target of assembling one million people, the organisers on Friday placed only 10,000 chairs. Thousands of Punjab police officials, both in uniform and plain clothes, will perform security duties in and outside the venue.

The provincial caretaker government of Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi is also fully cooperating with the PML-N for its political show.

The PML-N has also categorically told ticket aspirants that their candidature may not be considered if they fail to meet the required target of bringing people to the venue on Saturday.

According to the party, only Mr Nawaz will speak at the public meeting.

The PML-N has also hired two small aircraft to shower rose petals in Lahore on Saturday.

‘New ladla’

Mr Nawaz left for London in Nove­m­ber 2019 on medical grounds after a higher court granted him bail for four weeks. By that time, he had served half of his seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia corruption case.

During the four years since then, Nawaz was declared a proclaimed offender in Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases for his continuous absence from the proceedings on appeals against the sentences.

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday granted him protective bail until Oct 24 in both references after NAB did not oppose the petitions filed by him.

There has been a talk among political circles that he is returning to the country at the “right time” as his arch-rival, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, is in jail and there has been a “perfect equation” of PML-N with the establishment.

Against this backdrop, the PTI has called the PML-N supremo “the new blue-eyed boy of the system”.

“The one who was calling someone else [Imran Khan] ladla has now become ladla,” PTI leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi has said.

“Nawaz Sharif, a proclaimed offender and a convict, has got permission to roam around in the country … but let me tell you that neither offering of motorbikes nor paradise pass will help them as the people have rejected him and his party.”

Late on Friday night, Mr Nawaz’s son-in-law, Safdar Awan, held a rally at Jati Umra Raiwind and demanded accountability of the retired generals and judges who were responsible for the ouster of the elder Sharif in 2017.

Islamabad airport on standby

Meanwhile, the Islamabad International Airport administration has been instructed to remain on standby and not take weekly holiday on Saturday, as Mr Nawaz is set to land in the capital at around noon on Saturday.

According to sources, the airport’s management has been asked to remain on standby today.

The former prime minister will leave Dubai on a chartered flight of Flydubai (FZ4525) at about 9:30am Pakistan time and land in Islamabad at 12:30pm. Later, the plane will take off for Lahore at about 2pm. “Any chartered flight can land at the airport as a routine flight, as there is no need to make any special arrangements,” a senior airport official told Dawn.

Convoys leave from Balochistan

In Quetta, a convoy of PML-N leaders, workers and supporters left for Lahore in a special train on Friday to welcome the party leader and participate in the Minar-i-Pakistan rally. The party’s leadership in Balochistan has booked the special train comprising six bogies.

According to reports, such convoys of party workers and supporters also left for Lahore from Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Muhammad and Hub.

Some leaders of the Balochistan Awami Party also sent workers and supporters to Lahore to participate in PML-N’s rally.

Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi and Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2023