Nawaz Sharif, a former Pakistani prime minister, is expected to return after a four-year exile

 Nawaz Sharif, a former Pakistani prime minister, is expected to return after a four-year exile

Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and a three-time former prime minister of Pakistan, has landed at the Dubai International Airport and will soon return home.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrives at the Dubai airport to join the "Umeed-e-Pakistan" airplane for his historic trip return to Pakistan, according to a post on X by PML-N. I said, "Daikho daikho kon aaya!"

Nawaz Sharif said, "Today I will leave for Pakistan after 4 years and I feel very very happy with the grace of Allah," as he entered the Dubai airport. It would be wonderful if Pakistan's circumstances were better than it was in 2017."

Party leaders were applauded by PML-N members aboard the special aircraft as they chanted "Nawaz Sharif for Prime Minister again."

According to ARY News, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had earlier authorized a special aircraft scheduled to transport the PML-N supremo to land in the nation upon arrival.

According to the statement, the chartered aircraft will fly from Dubai to Islamabad and touch down at the airport there. Sharif will leave for Lahore after spending two hours at the Islamabad airport, according to ARY News on Saturday.

After a four-year self-imposed exile in London, Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to return to Pakistan on Saturday.

The PML-N party is all ready to give the former PM a regal welcome. For the party's big power display, a number of party officials and supporters are gathering in Lahore from all across Pakistan. According to Geo News, it has also reserved a number of special trains to make sure that its followers can attend the Minar-e-Pakistan demonstration.

Upheavals marred Nawaz's last term, which he served after winning a resounding victory in 2013. The opposition-organized blockade of Islamabad for many months in the beginning resulted to his disqualification by the Supreme Court in 2017. The court's decision came after months of proceedings in a case involving suspected wrongdoing during his first two years in office and brought about by the "Panama Papers" disclosures.

According to the chronology of the proceedings against Nawaz Sharif, on July 6, 2018, he was found guilty in the Avenfield reference case and given a sentence of 10 years in prison and an 8 million Euro (1.3 billion Pakistani Rupee) fine.

According to Geo News, the former prime minister was found guilty in his absence since he was in London at the time taking care of his ill wife.

Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz, who is presently the vice president and chief organizer of the PML-N, were detained upon their arrival in Lahore from London on July 13.

The Sharifs received significant relief after going to the Islamabad High Court when the IHC granted the release of Nawaz, Maryam, and Captain Muhammad Safdar while temporarily suspending the sentences imposed against them, according to Geo News.

The relief was, however, fleeting since the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison and fined him PKR 1.5 billion in the Al-Azizia sugar mills case in December of the same year.

Following the accountability court judge's announcement of the decision in the corruption case brought following the Supreme Court's 2016 Panamagate ruling, he was taken into custody outside of the courtroom. Nawaz was immediately barred from holding any public office for a decade as a result of the judgment.

While serving his sentence in the Al-Azizia case, Nawaz was diagnosed with an immune system disease in October 2019. His physicians then suggested him to go overseas for medical care.

On the basis of his health, the former prime minister was able to get an interim release from custody in the sugar mills case. In light of Nawaz's failing health, the Islamabad High Court subsequently granted him an eight-week bail in the Al-Azizia case.

Following the ex-PM's assurance to the court that he would return within the allotted time in a court-approved undertaking, the Lahore High Court in November 2019 approved Nawaz's request to travel abroad for four weeks of treatment and ordered the Imran Khan government to remove his name from the no-fly list without placing any restrictions on it, according to Geo News.

The court also gave Nawaz permission to go abroad for a four-week term that might be extended based on medical records.

The Islamabad High Court (HC) ordered the former PM to surrender and appear in court on September 1, 2020, noting that his bail had expired on February 27. The court also issued arrest warrants for Nawaz without the possibility of bail for disobeying the directives.

According to Geo News, Nawaz Sharif was even designated a "proclaimed offender" in both instances for "deliberately" failing to return to the nation and appear in court despite notifications, arrest orders, and ads.

But in a significant event in September of this year, Nawaz's return to Pakistan was announced by his brother and then-Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on October 21. This happened just before the National Assembly was dissolved and the voting procedure for the next general elections began.

On October 6, a new medical report for the former premier was presented to the Lahore High Court, which said that Nawaz requires continuous monitoring due to ongoing signs of heart illness.

Finally, on October 19, Nawaz Sharif received protected bail in two counts of corruption while having his arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case stayed by an accountability court, eliminating all remaining legal barriers to his unhindered entry back into the nation, according to Geo News.