Pakistan’s self-exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns home ahead of a parliamentary vote

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has returned home on a chartered plane from Dubai, ending four years of self-imposed exile in London as he seeks to win the support of voters in parliamentary elections due in January. Sharif, who was elected prime minister three times, is expected to face tough competition from the party of the former premier and his main rival, Imran Khan. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and is currently imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in a graft case. Sharif has been a fugitive since he failed to appear before a Pakistani court in 2019 following his conviction and a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.