Sharif to hold meeting with PM, party leaders in London

Pakistan's ousted premier Nawaz Sharif will hold a key consultative meeting with the ruling PML-N party's top leadership including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi here to decide the next steps of the party and the government in the Panama Papers scandal.
Sharif, 67, had to step down as the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after he was disqualified as the prime minister by the Supreme Court on July 28 in the scandal.
Sharif is in London along with his family to be with his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz who is still receiving cancer treatment in the British capital.

The top-level consultations in London come amid mounting legal pressure on Sharif and his family in the wake of the court proceedings, Pakistani media reported from London.
His daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain (retired) Mohmmad Safdar have already been indicted in corruption cases filed against them by the country's anti-corruption body National Accountability Bureau on the Supreme Court's instruction in the Panama Papers case.
Abbasi and Sharif's brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif left for London yesterday to meet the former premier, who landed here from Saudi Arabia along with his son Hussain.

Dismissing speculation about early general elections, Sharif said: "Rumours are always around but dont believe them".

He once again complained about his removal and said: "When a government is weakened, the country gets weakened".
Shahbaz said that: "Elections will be held on time and there are no differences in the party or family".
After the day-long meeting, Abbasi is expected to return to Pakistan later in the day.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, along with other cabinet ministers, is also expected to reach the UK from Saudi Arabia.
The PML-N party is trying to position itself for the 2018 elections. Both Sharif and his daughter have stated that the cases against them are politically-motivated.
Sharif reached London to be with his wife after concluding a week-long private visit to Saudi Arabia.