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ISLAMABAD/ LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz arrived in London on Thursday to meet her father, party supremo Nawaz Sharif, after three years, days after a court ordered the return of her passport.
Maryam took off from Lahore"s Allama Iqbal Airport two days ago. She traveled through Qatar where she stayed for a day and met political figures.
She later went to London with her son and daughter-in-law. Maryam was received at Heathrow Airport by her brother Hasan Nawaz.
A large crowd of party supporters also gathered at the airport to receive the PML-N leader, where supporters of the rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also gathered to protest Maryam"s arrival. According to reports, there was also a scuffle between the supporters of the respective parties.
The PML-N leader arrived at the Avenfield flat where she was greeted by a crowd of PML-N supporters chanting slogans in her favour. She thanked the workers for the welcome.
Shortly after, the PML-N leader tweeted a picture of her meeting Nawaz Sharif.
Information Minister and PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb also shared a picture of their reunion on Twitter and praised Maryam for her "bravery" and "resilience" of the father-daughter duo in the face of "unjust imprisonment, defamation, mental torture". and grief over the loss of loved ones”.
Maryam Nawaz meets her brothers for the first time after their mother"s death in 2018.
The information minister questioned whether such "injustices" could ever be rectified and praised Maryam for "not shedding a single tear in the face of hardship and cruelty".
Maryam"s stay
According to family sources, Maryam will oversee Nawaz"s treatment, hold detailed political consultations with her father and take important decisions regarding the party"s future strategy.
She is due to return to Pakistan in a month, on November 6, and Nawaz is expected to accompany her on her return.
Passport returned
Earlier this week, the Lahore High Court ordered the deputy registrar to return Maryam"s passport after four years of back-and-forth and court petitions.
She surrendered her passport before the LHC in 2019 after she was granted bail following her arrest in the Chaudhary Sugar Mills Limited (CSML) case.
PML-N supremo Nawaz was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2018 in links to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield properties.
However, his sentence was suspended by the LHC in 2019 on health grounds and he was allowed to fly to London to seek treatment, after which he went into self-imposed exile.
Shortly before her passport was returned, the PML-N leader was acquitted by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 29 September. The Supreme Court quashed the accountability court"s conviction of her and her husband Captain (retd) Mohammad Safdar. in the Avenfield reference four years ago.