Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, both sentenced to lengthy jail terms in absentia, are due to return to Pakistan on Friday in a high-stakes gamble to galvanise their beleaguered party ahead of a July 25 general election.
On Friday afternoon, thousands of police had been deployed in the central city of Lahore and shipping containers placed along main roads, which could be used to block protesters from moving towards the airport, where Sharif is expected to land around 6:15 pm (1315 GMT).
Local police official Naveed Shah briefed media that his current orders did not include restricting people’s movements, but that could change when supporters of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party take to the streets.
PML-N loyalists have said they will march to the airport in defiance of a ban on all public rallies.
Sharif is returning from Britain one week after an anti-corruption court handed him a 10-year jail term over the purchase of luxury London flats and sentenced his daughter and political heir to seven years in prison.
Their return could shake up an election race marred by claims Pakistan’s powerful military is working behind the scenes to skew the contest in favour of ex-cricket hero Imran Khan.
Sharif alleges the military is aiding a “judicial witchhunt” against him and his PML-N party. The party’s past five years in power has been punctuated by the civil-military discord that has plagued Pakistan since its inception.
The opposition Pakistan People Party (PPP) also alleged “pre-poll rigging” this week, but did not specifically name the armed forces.
The military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half its history since 1947, has denied interfering in modern-day politics. It plans to place 371,000 soldiers around polling stations so that a “free and fair” election can take place, an army spokesman said this week.
“Nawaz really believes this is about democracy and his legacy,” Musadik Malik, Sharif ally and former PML-N cabinet minister, told reporters. “That is why he is willing to lose 10 years of his life over this.”
Sharif’s PML-N expects a groundswell of support as he returns from London, where his wife Kulsoom is critically ill and undergoing cancer treatment.
To prevent PML-N workers staging a hero’s welcome on the streets, authorities said they will arrest the father and daughter upon landing and transport them to the capital Islamabad by helicopter, local media reported.
Sharif’s return comes at a time of dwindling fortunes for his party, which one year ago was considered a run-away favourite to retain power.
Recent opinion polls suggest PML-N has lost its lead nationally to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of arch-rival Khan, whose anti-corruption message has resonated with many Pakistanis.
Khan has painted Sharif as a “criminal” who has looted the state for decades, and welcomes his prison term as overdue accountability, said a report by Reuters.
Sharif was ordered jailed after failing to explain how the family acquired the London flats in a case stemming from 2016 Panama Papers revelations that showed they owned the apartments through off-shore companies. Maryam was convicted for concealing ownership of the apartments. They both deny wrongdoing.
