PML-N top brass holds key meeting in London

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has arrived here from Saudi Arabia to hold a key consultative meeting on Monday with his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party leaders, including current Premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking to media after his arrival at Heathrow Airport on Sunday night, Sharif said he will soon return to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and other key cabinet members were also likely to attend the high-level consultative meeting of the PML-N, Dawn news reported.

The top-level consultations come as legal pressure on Sharif and his family builds in the wake of the so-called Panama Papers judgment.

Meanwhile, ahead of the key party meeting, Abbasi said there was no rift among national institutions. The Premier said he neither believed in conspiracy theories nor there was any room for those in the country.

Abbasi said both the political and military leadership was sitting together during the recent meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Islamabad and all of the country's institutions were collectively playing their role for national development.

Abbasi reiterated that there was no provision for technocrat government in Pakistan's Constitution.

Last week, the accountability court hearing corruption references against the Sharif family issued bailable warrants for the former Premier in the three references against him as he had been a no-show in the proceedings.

The references against the Sharif family pertain to the Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metals Establishment, their London properties and over dozen offshore companies owned by the family.

The hearing was then adjourned until November 3 with the last chance for Sharif to ensure his presence in court. The former Prime Minister's daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Captain Muhammad Safdar had already been indicted in one corruption case.

--IANS

soni/vm