LONDON: Former prime minister Shahbaz Sharif arrived in London on Sunday – a much-anticipated visit during which the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) will consider its election campaign and the return of party chief Nawaz Sharif.
It is the younger Sharif’s first visit to Britain since his 16-month term in government ended this month. In this visit, the former prime minister is accompanied by his son Salman Shehbaz.
According to party sources, Shahbaz Sharif will hold important meetings with PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif during his visit to London. There will also be meetings with other key party leaders, who will join him there.
Several former federal ministers are already in the UK capital to attend the aforementioned meetings between the party leadership to discuss Nawaz Sharif’s return home.
According to Muslim League (N) sources, the legal team of the party is also expected to participate in the meetings to consider the legal obstacles of the party supremo.
On August 9, Shahbaz Sharif said that Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan in September and added that he would go to London for detailed consultations with his elder brother in this regard.
“Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan next month and face the law and lead the election campaign,” he said. London from November 2019 due to health reasons.
“He [Nawaz] will neither wear a cap nor a bucket,” Shahbaz said.
Nawaz Sharif went to London for treatment in November 2019 after being convicted in corruption cases by the accountability court and has been living there ever since.
In 2016, Nawaz Sharif resigned as prime minister after being disqualified for life by the Supreme Court for concealing assets.
Later, the PML-N supremo was convicted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Dair-ul-Azizia and Avenfield Apartment references that came to light after the Panama Papers leak.
Their appeals against the sentence are currently pending in the respective courts.
Earlier, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif had expressed serious reservations over the behavior of the Supreme 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-judge bench of the Supreme Court – headed by Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar – ruled that the Supreme Court (reviewing judgments and orders ) Act 2023 is unconstitutional.
Essentially, the Supreme Court’s decision dashed the hopes of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen who were trying to challenge their lifelong disqualification.
The Supreme Court disqualified both Nawaz and Tareen under Article 62 of the Constitution. If the verdict were in favor of the petitions, the two leaders would have an opportunity to challenge their disqualification in view of their political ambitions between the upcoming general elections in the country after the completion of the term of the National Assembly.
