Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed on Tuesday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be travelling to London as part of a PML-N delegation to meet party supremo Nawaz Sharif.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Power Minister Khurram Dastgir, she noted that several media channels were airing the news that PML-N members were going to visit Nawaz in London, which she said the government’s opponents were blowing out of proportion.
“PML-N members are going on a private visit to London to meet with Nawaz Sharif,” she said, adding that PM Shehbaz would also be travelling for this purpose.
However, the minister appeared to downplay the matter by saying that the process of consultation was not unusual among political parties. “This is not that big of an issue but those who have nothing to say and nothing to show for their performance have found a topic.” The information minister also emphasised that a PML-N delegation was going to meet with Nawaz for consultations, which was an ongoing process. Nawaz, who is convicted in a corruption case, has been living in London on the pretext of ill health since November 2019, when the Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave the country for four weeks for medical treatment after Shehbaz, his younger brother, gave an undertaking that the senior Sharif would return within the stipulated time. Later, Nawaz sought extensions to prolong his stay in London on medical grounds.
Last month, Nawaz had also conducted meetings with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was later appointed Pakistan’s federal minister.
The two had agreed to implement the left-out clauses of the Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed by the two parties some 16 years ago and to finalise a roadmap for the future with the consensus of all democratic forces.
