Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan

The 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo left for London in the middle of his seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia corruption case on "medical grounds" in November 2019 after a high court granted him bail for four weeks.

"I am meeting you after a long time, but my love for you remains intact. You have never betrayed me and I have never betrayed you," Sharif told the crowds, wearing his signature red scarf.

The Pakistani supremo flew in from Dubai to Islamabad on the 'Umeed-e-Pakistan' chartered plane.

"The pain and suffering that Nawaz Sharif endured in the last 24 years are hardly comparable, and there are some wounds that will never heal, but the amount of times Nawaz Sharif has risen is probably not the same for anyone else," Maryam said in a post on X.

"We are completely ready for elections," he told reporters before his flight took off.

Sharif touched down briefly in Islamabad where he signed court papers, before flying on to Lahore and taking a helicopter to the Greater Iqbal Park where he addressed supporters.

​​The PML-N leadership has made all efforts to make the homecoming of Sharif a historic event. The PML-N set an ambitious target of bringing one million people to the rally at Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan.

​More than 7,000 police were enlisted to control crowds at the Greater Iqbal Park. Many supporters walked miles to meet their leader in the rally.

​Fireworks marked his arrival at the event in a park in his power base of Lahore, where the streets have been shrouded in green and yellow party banners.