Deposed and exiled prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not return to Pakistan in the near future following his dramatic release from prison over the weekend, a government spokesman said Monday.
"I do not think he is coming back," the military regime's public relations chief, Major General Rashid Qureshi, told CNN.
He said the decision to pardon Sharif and allow his exile to Saudi Arabia was based on compassion, following appeals for clemency from his family.
Sharif was said to be suffering a heart problem and needing urgent specialist care.
But his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who left with Sharif and almost 20 close relatives in the early hours of Sunday morning, denied making any such appeal.
"We are being exiled. We are not going of our own will," she said before being taken to the airport under police escort.
"We have not filed any petition for clemency. This is our country and we will come back when his health permits."
Sharif was toppled in a coup in October last year and subsequently sentenced to lengthy prison terms for hijacking and tax evasion -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
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