Sharif summons PML-N leaders to discuss legal challenges

Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned key aides to London for an important meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) this week to devise strategies to deal with legal challenges.

The PML-N president will consult senior party leaders to discuss his possible return to the country ahead of the next hearing on October 19 of corruption references filed against him and his children in connection with a Supreme Court-mandated inquiry in the Panamagate case about offshore wealth that resulted in his disqualification.

In addition, Sharif will be updated regarding the findings of a committee on the issue of changing the text of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (finality of the prophethood) avowal in the Elections Bill 2017, it was learnt.

The leaders include PML-N chairman and Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, federal ministers Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Mushahidullah Khan, Ahsan Iqbal and Zahid Hamid and Senator Pervaiz Rashid, The Express Tribune has reported.

Zafarul Haq is the head of the three-member committee formed by Sharif on the issue of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath, while Mushahidullah and Ahsan Iqbal are its members.

The former prime minister is expected to be indicted during the court proceedings. Sharif is expected to return to the country to appear before the court on the date but his sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz are unwilling to land in Pakistan to face the trial.

On October 13, Sharif, his sons, daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Mohammed Safdar were to be indicted by the accountability court but rowdy lawyers from the PML-N disrupted the proceedings. Earlier, the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Safdar, Hassan and Hussain and bailable warrants of Maryam.