Amid coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan early Sunday morning, party’s spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on Saturday.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said Shehbaz Sharif, who was abroad to tend to his ailing brother former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had taken the decision due to the deteriorating condition of coronavirus in Pakistan.
Pictures of the PML-N president surfaced on social media in which he can be seen embracing his mother and elder brother in London as he prepared to leave for Islamabad.
The PIA UK confirmed the PML-N president’s flight to Pakistan. The airline said that usually PIA flights do not operate on Saturdays. However, due to the coronavirus and the ensuing commotion, this weekend the PIA was operating flights.
Marriyum said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will undergo a cardiac intervention surgery next week.
Sharif family sources said Nawaz has asked Shehbaz to go to Pakistan and help victims of the coronavirus while being among the masses during their time of need.
Shehbaz brought his brother Nawaz to London last year for medical treatment, after the former prime minister was allowed to fly abroad.
“Coronavirus has wreaked havoc in Pakistan and the world,” said Shehbaz prior to departure. “I am coming back to Pakistan to be with the people,” he said. “I have decided to return to the country after Nawaz gave me permission to do so,” he said, adding that as leader of opposition in National Assembly, it is obligatory for him to return to Pakistan as soon as he can.
The development comes hours after government announced that it was suspending all international flights operations in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Shehbaz has been accompanying Nawaz since November 2019, when the three-time premier flew to London to get medical treatment after the Islamabad High Court granted him interim bail in a corruption case owing to his medical condition. The long absence of the opposition leader had set the rumour mills rolling as he also faces a number of corruption cases and is currently on bail.
