PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif was not likely to come back to the country as the environment was not ‘favourable’ for him to return, said former advocate general of Punjab Ahmed Awais.

“The people close to him [Sharif] will not advise him to return to the country,” he said on Aaj News show Faisla Aap Ka on Monday. “He himself is a smart man, who would not want to be in the similar situation, in which he was before leaving Pakistan.”

Awais went on to add that nowadays, the pressure was on Sharif’s rivals due to fear of persecution. “This pressure can never be permanent,” he said, alleging that when this pressure was released, the real hatred of the people will come out.

“Sharif escaped very precarious conditions in the country and now living as a free citizen in London. I do not see favourable conditions for his return,” Awais said.

PDM’s spokesperson Hafiz Hamdullah, who was the second guest on the show, said that Sharif should come back to the country before the elections and lead his party in the upcoming polls.

“I think the case in which he was convicted was the same as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s conviction. The courts said that they wrongly convicted Bhutto. The same is for Sharif. His name was not in the Panama leaks, however, the courts’ decision came against him,” he added.

There should be no attempts from anyone to stop him from coming back to the country or participating in politics, Hamdullah said.

While speaking regarding the LG election in Karachi, he said that the JI should not blame the PPP for its defeat in the Karachi mayor’s election. “The PPP did not defeat JI. It was the PTI, which was the reason for the JI’s defeat in the mayoral election. The party should ask questions from the PTI why their council members were not present at the time of the mayor’s election,” the PDM spokesperson said.