PML-N given permission to hold rally at Minar-e-Pakistan on Nawaz’s return

As Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) prepares to welcome its supremo Nawaz Sharif on his return on October 21 from a 4-year self-exile, the party has acquired permission from the district administration of Lahore to hold rally at Minar-e-Pakistan.

Former finance minister and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar confirmed to have been granted permission for holding public gathering (Jalsa) on October 21 at Minar-e-Pakistan (Greater Iqbal Park), Lahore in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“This permission at the proposed site is being issued after submission of Affidavit/Undertaking by the organiser to the effect that in case of any untoward incident he shall take full responsibility of the Public Gathering / Jalsa and shall be held responsible,” read the notification dated October 14 sent to Bilal Yaseen, representative of PML-N, Lahore.

After spending 4 years in London in self-exile, Nawaz Sharif is set to return on October 21. To set the event as a “grand welcome”, PML-N has been organising different public gatherings to charge its followers as well as continue its election campaign.

Report submitted to LHC shows Nawaz has ‘residual anginal symptoms’

“Nawaz Sharif will return on October 21 and steer the country out of crisis,” PML-N senior vice president and chief organiser Maryam Nawaz said while addressing a public gathering in Lahore last Sunday.

“Nawaz Sharif has always worked for the betterment of the people, and the country was progressing under his rule,” she said then.

Nawaz has been in self-exile since 2019 and has primarily lived in London after being disqualified for life in the Panama Papers case.

The possibility of Sharif’s return was increased after the Senate passed amendments to the Election Act, changing the limitations of how long a parliamentarian can be disqualified.

In the rules passed by the Upper House on June 17, in cases where the duration has not been specifically outlined, a person’s disqualification to run for provincial or central legislatures will not exceed five years.

Sharif left for London on November 19, 2019, after the Islamabad High Court released him on bail from a seven-year sentence for corruption. His bail was approved on medical grounds for eight weeks in the Al Azizia case.

He was diagnosed with an immune system disorder. The 70-year-old PML-N supremo had got bail in two corruption cases and is facing another reference by the National Accountability Bureau.

His departure had come after deliberation and undertaking by his brother Shehbaz Sharif, who stated he would “ensure the return of his brother within four weeks or on certification by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan”.