Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Islamabad on Thursday after a long absence from the capital, during which he underwent open-heart surgery in London.
The prime minister returned to Pakistan last week and stayed in Lahore, looking after state affairs from his camp office in the capital of the Punjab province.
His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, an increasingly influential figure in the ruling party, tweeted photos of the prime minister sitting in a plane.
She wrote: “Prime minister at work during the flight to Islamabad. Just arrived.”
Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid had told journalists on Wednesday that the PM’s doctors had advised him against travelling before Sunday following a medical check-up.
A day before the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chairman Imran Khan announced a plan to launch protests on August 7 aimed at removing the government.
His plans follow the stalling of business for a government-opposition parliamentary committee set up to draft terms of reference for judicial probe into the Panama Papers case.
The papers revealed Sharif’s two sons and daughter had business interests offshore.
Imran Khan’s plans have drawn criticism from other mainstream opposition parties.
Pakistan People’s Party stalwart Syed Khurshid Shah, who is leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, said the PTI decision was taken without consultation with other opposition parties.
Shah said the planned “solo flight” by the PTI was likely meet the same fate as its failed sit-in protest in 2014 near the parliament in Islamabad.
Such unilateral decisions tend to weaken the opposition and strengthen the government, the opposition leader told reporters.
