ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office has confirmed that Pakistan’s High Commissioner (HC) to the UK, Dr Muhammad Faisal, met with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) in London last week before the arrival of former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the UK capital. Met with Supremo Nawaz Sharif. JEE News reported.
Immediately after the transfer of power to the caretaker setup in the country, the Islamabad High Court’s directive to meet Nawaz Sharif raised many eyebrows as the meeting took place just before the PML-N’s statements that the former minister Azam is about to return to Pakistan.
Later, the video of Nawaz Sharif’s son Hasan Nawaz leaving the central London office of High Court Faisal also came to light.
Yes, there was a meeting. Mr Nawaz Sharif has been our Prime Minister three times, and we extend such courtesy to all former Prime Ministers,” said a source close to the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign office sources say that it was a courtesy meeting with the former prime minister which was a routine matter.
Meanwhile, another government source commented that the matter is complicated as technically and legally Nawaz has been convicted and is a fugitive in the eyes of the law.
“It is common for Pakistani diplomats to meet high-profile Pakistanis, and Nawaz Sharif is certainly among them,” the official said.
Last week, a Sharif family source said on condition of anonymity that Nawaz Sharif would leave London for Pakistan “after a month”.
This would mean that the former prime minister is expected to return to Pakistan in the middle of this September.
Lawyers and political aides of the Sharif family had advised the PML-N supremo to come to Pakistan soon after completing his tour of Europe and the Middle East, which began two months ago and ended with Nawaz Sharif’s arrival in London last week. It happened. However, some in the PML-N have suggested to Nawaz that it is better to arrive in mid-September.
“Nawaz Sharif’s decision to return to Pakistan after ending almost four years of exile is final and all is well,” said a source who was part of the negotiations and arrangements.
