Nawaz Sharif’s likelihoods of returning home are leaner due to new UK COVID variant.
As the new COVID variant became available in the United Kingdom (UK), doctors advised PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif not to travel.
The government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to renew Nawaz’s passport after it expired in February last year, but interior minister Sheikh Rasheed later said that if the PML-N supremo wanted to return, he could be issued a special certificate.
However, the incumbent government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, issued a new passport to the PML-N leader on April 25.
It was expected that Nawaz would return to the country after receiving a new passport.
According to the source, Nawaz Sharif’s chances of being repatriated have ended after doctors advised him not to travel until his treatment was completed.
“Doctors have advised [the] PML-N supremo to avoid travel after a new variant of COVID was discovered in the UK,” a source said.
Many European countries, including Germany and Portugal, have experienced an increase in Omicron sub-variant BA.5 cases.
On Wednesday, 27,000 cases and 47 deaths were reported in Portugal as a result of the COVID subvariant.
After Eid, Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan.
In April, PML-N senior leader Javed Latif said on Geo News’ Aapas Ki Baat that Nawaz will return to Pakistan after Eid because there is no pandemic in the country at the time.
Latif went on to say that once Nawaz arrives in Pakistan, he will face the charges against him.
“He [Nawaz Sharif] will face the courts and the rule of law, but we do not expect anyone to be treated as a ladla [favourite] or to face brutality,” he added.
The PML-N supremo has left for treatment in London.
Following his illness, the PML-N supremo left for London in November 2019 after Prime Minister Imran Khan granted him permission to travel abroad for medical treatment.
In 2018, an accountability court sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, and he was also sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined £8 million (Rs1.3 billion) in the Avenfield corruption reference.
