JEE News reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will leave for Pakistan this evening. His flight is scheduled to take off for Pakistan at 6 pm.
Shahbaz Sharif left for London after completing a two-day visit to Egypt where he attended the COP27 meeting. He had earlier planned to leave for Pakistan on Friday. However, he delayed his return trip, and his family sources attributed his decision to physical exhaustion.
Sources said his family advised him not to travel as he developed fever before leaving for the airport on Saturday. Accordingly, he extended his stay a second time, family sources said.
During his stay in London, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held several meetings with PMLN supremo and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif. The meetings mostly focused on domestic politics and the appointment of a new army chief.
On Friday, in a blow to Prime Minister Shahbaz, a UK court rejected his plea for an indefinite adjournment in the Daily Mail defamation case.
According to British media, Justice Matthew Nicklin heard the case. The court refused to grant further respite. The prime minister’s lawyers requested the court to grant them time to submit their reply as the prime minister is currently busy with professional duties.
However, Justice Nicklan asserted, “In his court, the prime minister and the common man are equal,” according to media reports.
If Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Ali Imran fail to respond to the Daily Mail’s lawyers in court, they will have to pay the defendants all the legal costs.
In 2019, the Prime Minister issued a legal notice to a British newspaper and its journalist David Rose accusing them of misappropriating public funds.
“This article is highly defamatory of Prime Minister Shehbaz, including false allegations that he has diverted UK taxes to fund Department for International Development (DFID) aid to victims of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. The legal notice said that Prime Minister Shehbaz denied the allegations.
During a hearing in a London court, Justice Nicklan ruled that Prime Minister Shehbaz’s lawyer must deposit £30,000 by November 23 while withdrawing an application by his lawyers for an injunction to allow the case to proceed. An application was made to the court unilaterally for taking.
Prime Minister Shehbaz’s lawyers at Carter Rick made the move after he was cleared by a Pakistani court in a money laundering case, but a stay was sought at the London High Court long before that.
