Senior PML-N leaders in London for vital consultation with Sharifs

Senior leaders of Nawaz Sharif's party are in London to discuss with the ailing former Pakistan prime minister the political situation in the country, including the issue of legislation on an Army chief's tenure extension and the appointment of the new chief election commissioner.

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leaders including Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Asif, Rana Tanveer, Ayaz Sadiq and Pervaiz Rasheed will attend a meeting presided over by party president Shehbaz Sharif in London, The Express Tribune reported.

Nawaz Sharif, 69, is currently in London after getting bail from a Pakistani court on medical grounds. Shehbaz had accompanied his elder brother to London last month.

The former prime minister, who was serving a prison sentence in Pakistan for corruption, has an immune system disorder and other health problems.

"We will inquire after the party's supreme leader and also take guidance (from Nawaz and Shahbaz) mainly on the issues of legislation on the extension in service of the army chief and the appointment of the new chief election commissioner (CEC), Aurangzeb, the PML-N information secretary told Dawn newspaper before the group's departure.

She said the party leaders would return in a week after the consultation.

Pakistan's Supreme Court had in the last week of November gave the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan six months to legislate and iron out the lacunae in the reappointment or extension of tenure of an army chief, allowing the incumbent Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to stay on as Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) until a new law determined his terms of service.

The ruling averted a crisis as Gen Bajwa was set to retire as COAS on November 29. Earlier, the apex court suspended a notification issued by Prime Minister Khan on August 19 for Gen Bajwa's reappointment for three years till 2022, citing procedural loopholes.

The PML-N has already cautioned that legislation on the extension of the COAS service will not be easy in Parliament if the hostile attitude' of the Prime Minister Khan-led government towards the Opposition persisted.

The party has also accused the government of deliberately rendering the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) dysfunctional so that the foreign funding case against the ruling party could be put off.

"The chief election commissioner is posted for a fixed tenure. The government knew for the last six months that the CEC was set to retire in December, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said while speaking to reporters outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.

"The government is responsible for the delay in the appointment of the new CEC", he said.