Lahore, Oct 20 (PTI) Pakistan's security agencies have warned the Punjab government of a potential threat to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's life upon his arrival here on Saturday to address a major rally, four years after he went to the UK on "medical grounds".

Nawaz, who is returning to the country after ending his four-year self-imposed exile in London has arrived in Dubai from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and will travel to Pakistan in a chartered plane on Saturday.

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He is scheduled to address a mass rally organised by his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on Saturday evening.

The Punjab Home Department on Friday said that the 73-year-old supreme leader of the PML-N is "facing threat" during his participation at the Minar-e-Pakistan rally on Saturday.

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The department said a couple of threat alerts have been reported by the security agencies after which the Punjab police has been put on high alert.

A senior home department official said that they held a high-level meeting and took the Punjab police into confidence to make coordinated efforts to ensure security for the three-time former prime minister, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz's younger brother and PML-N president has asked party leaders to accord a “historic reception” to his elder brother.

PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar said that the three-time former prime minister will land in Islamabad as he has secured protective bail in Al-Azizia and Avenfield cases from the Islamabad High Court.

After meeting the legal requirement, the elder Sharif will leave for Lahore and address a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan.

The PML-N has reportedly hired the services of two small planes to shower rose petals in Lahore for three-and-a-half hours (between 3 pm and 6.30 pm) on the arrival of Nawaz Sharif.

In a desperate bid to motivate the workers to go to Lahore on Nawaz's homecoming, a senior PML-N leader has told the workers that they will go to heaven if they attend the Minar-e-Pakistan rally.

According to the permission granted by the Lahore district administration, the PML-N has to adhere to some 39 conditions, including ensuring all requisite precautionary measures in and around the venue for the safety of participants and the general public.

“No speeches against constitutional offices/armed forces/judiciary shall be uttered,” the district administration of Lahore said last week while granting permission to the party to hold a rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan.

The PML-N is hoping that the presence of Nawaz in the country will benefit the party ahead of the general election in January.

“In his address, Nawaz Sharif will give a road map to pull the country out of the economic mess,” Hamza Shehbaz, the nephew of Nawaz Sharif, said last week.

Nawaz had 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 higher court granted him bail for four weeks.

A medical report on his health submitted to the Lahore High Court earlier this month said Sharif still had “some residual anginal symptoms” which would require “frequent follow-up investigations” in London and Pakistan.

He was declared a proclaimed offender in Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases for his continuous absence from the proceedings on appeals against the sentences.

There has been a talk among the political circles that Nawaz Sharif is returning to the country at the right time as his arch-rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is in jail and there is a perfect equation of his party with the military led by Army chief Gen Asim Munir.

PTI leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi said on X: "Today the one who was calling someone else (Imran Khan) ladla (favourite) has now become ladla. Nawaz Sharif, a proclaimed offender and a convict, has got permission to roam around in the country…but let me tell you neither offering of motorbikes nor paradise pass will help them as the people have rejected him and his party."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)