Fleeing country will not help Sharif revive his image: Zardari

Former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has said that fleeing the country would not help ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif revive his image.

Speaking at a meeting with Pakistan People's Party leaders on Sunday, he also asked Sharif not to run away from the country and face the cases against him.

"Nawaz Sharif should show courage," The Nation quoted Zardari as saying to his party leaders.

Earlier, PPP chief and Zardari's son Bilawal Bhutto said that Sharif was neither qualified nor capable to lead Pakistan.

Zardari was earlier acquitted by a special accountability court in Rawalpindi in a reference related to his alleged unlawful assets in Pakistan and abroad after nineteen years due to lack of solid evidence.

Sharif was disqualified on July 28th by the Supreme Court for hiding assets.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) later denotified Sharif as a member of the National Assembly and also asked the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to remove him as the party head.

Sharif has been defending himself against the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify him for hiding assets and has already filed several review petitions in the top court, challenging his ouster.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has scheduled polling in Lahore's NA-120 constituency for September 17th after Sharif's disqualification.

The election authorities have approved Sharif's wife Kulsoom Nawaz's nomination for the by-election but she is not expected to campaign much for her election as she is in London for treatment of throat cancer.

Some members of the Sharif family are already in London to look after Kulsoom Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif too is expected to join her soon.