LAHORE: Nawaz Sharif is going to be the next prime minister of Pakistan for a record fourth time after the general election in February, his younger brother and former premier Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday.
The 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo is the only Pakistani politician who became the prime minister of the coup-prone country thrice.
Sharif is contesting elections for the National Assembly seats in Lahore NA-130 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa NA-15 (Mansehra).
"Nawaz Sharif is going to the PM for the fourth time by the will of God after (Feb 8, 2024) polls," Shehbaz told reporters in Jhang district of Punjab where former minister of Gen Pervez Musharraf backed government Faisal Salah Hayat announced joining the PML-N.
"We have made Pakistan economically strong again under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif," he said and expressed the hope that his party would get a majority in the upcoming polls.
Addressing the party's parliamentary meeting in Lahore in which Sharif was also present, Shehbaz asked the aspirants of the party tickets to work hard in their constituencies to win the polls.
"Nawaz Sharif will start the development work where it left off," the PML-N president said.
He also talked about the past achievements of the PML-N governments under Nawaz Sharif.
As the party president announced Sharif was going to be premier after the polls, Sharif's son-in-law Captain (retd.) Muhammad Safdar said his wife Maryam Nawaz will be the chief minister candidate of Punjab.
"PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz is the party's candidate for the Punjab CM office. A formal announcement in this regard would be made later," Safdar said.
Since his return to the country last October after a four-year self-exile in the UK on medical grounds, rumours are rife that Sharif has come back after striking a deal with the powerful military establishment that has promised to make him the prime minister for a fourth time.
Sharif has been accorded VVIP protocol since his homecoming.
He is acting as the de facto premier.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of Imran Khan has alleged that Sharif returned to the country under a 'London Plan' under which the military establishment will make him prime minister and smash the former cricketer-turned-politician and his party.
The PTI says over 10,000 party workers and leaders are in jail in connection with the May 9 attacks on military installations.
Besides, a good number of PTI candidates were not allowed to submit their nomination papers by the police and agencies.
The PTI candidates are also not being allowed to run their election campaigns.