Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan between November 15 and 30, his son said in London on Tuesday. Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia on September 10 within hours of setting foot on Pakistani soil after a seven-year exile.
Sharif's son Hassan Nawaz said his father and uncle Shahbaz Sharif will return home together. Nawaz said that his father was now in the holy city of Madina and will travel to Jeddah after Eid-ul-Fitr.
After staying in Jeddah for a few days, Sharif will travel to London, Hassan said. After staying in London for two to three weeks, Sharif and his brother will return to Pakistan between November 15 and 30, Hassan told a TV channel in London. Sources in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) were quoted as saying that the Saudi government has allowed Sharif to leave that country after Eid.
Sharif, 57, had returned to Pakistan on September 10 after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that the he had an 'inalienable right' to come back to the country.
Sharif has been living in exile in since he was ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, and the military ruler claimed that Sharif had signed a deal to stay in Saudi Arabia for a decade.
Within four hours of landing at Islamabad airport on September 10, Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia. In recent interviews, Musharraf has indicated that he might allow Sharif to return to the country before the general elections.
More from rediff