LONDON: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is anticipated to discuss its election campaign and party supremo Nawaz Sharif’s homecoming during the former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s much-awaited visit to London.
After his 16-month term in the administration came to an end this month, the younger Sharif is making his first trip to the UK. Salman Shehbaz, the former premier’s son, is traveling with him.
Shehbaz would meet with PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif on his trip to London, according Pakistani party sources. Other significant party leaders will attend and meet with him there as well.
Several former federal ministers are already present in the UK capital to partake in the aforementioned meetings between the party’s leadership during which Nawaz’s return would be discussed.
The party’s legal team is also expected to participate in the meetings to deliberate on the legal hurdles of the party supremo, as per sources in the PML-N.
On August 9, Shehbaz Sharif said that Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan in September and added that he would travel to London to hold detailed consultations with his elder brother in this regard.
Nawaz Sharif, who has been in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019 due to health reasons, said in an interview with Capital Talk show host Hamid Mir, “Nawaz Sharif will come back to Pakistan next month and will face the law and lead the election campaign,” without specifying the precise date of Nawaz’s homecoming.
Shehbaz declared, “He [Nawaz] won’t wear a hat or a bucket.”
After being found guilty by an accountability court in graft cases, Nawaz traveled to London for medical attention in November 2019 and has since been residing there.
In 2016, Nawaz stepped down as the prime minister after the Supreme Court disqualified him for life for concealing assets.
Later, the PML-N supremo was convicted in the Al-Azizia and the Aveinfeild Apartment references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which emerged in the aftermath of the Panama Papers leak.
His appeals against the conviction are currently pending in the relevant courts.
Earlier, speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif had expressed his severe concerns over the behaviour of the apex court, especially during the past few months, saying: “One should not take the risk of Nawaz Sharif’s return” in this situation.
Earlier this month, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — ruled that the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act 2023 was “unconstitutional”.
In essence, the Supreme Court’s decision dashed the aspirations of former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen who sought to contest their lifetime disqualifications.
Nawaz and Tareen were both disqualified by the SC in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. Given their political aspirations in light of the approaching general elections in the nation after the National Assembly’s term has ended, both leaders would have had the opportunity to contest their disqualifications had the decision been in favor of the petitions.
