LONDON: A day after the Senate cleared the way for Nawaz Sharif to head his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League despite his disqualification by the Supreme Court, the ousted prime minister on Saturday spent the whole day in consultation with senior party leadership, including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, in London before making his next move public.

After meeting PM Abbasi, a much confident Sharif spoke to media outside his son’s office in London’s Marble Arch area, only to dodge a repeated query whether he would officially take up the reins of the PML-N after the passage of the key election bill from the Senate.

“What do you think?” he asked, with a smile, when the question put to him for the umpteenth time.

PM Abbasi and Shahbaz arrive in UK capital to mull strategy

Not only the younger Sharif and PM Abbasi, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Maryam Nawaz and a few other senior party figures were in London and part of the deliberation process that continued till late in the night.

However, nothing has been said officially about Mr Sharif’s engagements, which are thought to be part of the crucial and important deliberation process before taking major decisions.

While the victory of his wife, Kulsoom, in the Sept 17 NA-120 by-election in Lahore and then the successful passage of the key election bill in the opposition-dominated Senate must have boosted his morale, Mr Sharif remained cautious while commenting on recent developments regarding the fast-track accountability process and reopening of the Hudaibya Paper Mills money-laundering reference.

“You know very well about my stand...I have a principled stance which I believe is the right one...and people of Pakistan have supported it,” he said.

Referring to his GT Road homecoming rally after the Supreme Court disqualified him, he said: “From Islamabad to Lahore, I have seen complete support from people. And then [victory in] the NA-120 by-election in Lahore is also a big endorsement.”

In response to a question about some PML-N workers who went “missing” during the NA-120 by-election, Mr Sharif said he had discussed the abduction of party workers with PM Abbasi. “I asked him to personally investigate the issue and to get to the bottom of it.”

When asked to comment on the participation of candidates backed by banned outfits in the Lahore by-poll, he said this issue should be a cause of concern for the whole nation. “This would cause harm to democratic forces and I don’t think that the country can afford such things.”

About the treatment of his ailing wife, Mr Sharif said that she underwent a third surgery, a big one, after which she remained in the intensive care unit for 24 hours. “She came home last night and we are waiting for her biopsy reports.”

He said that PM Abbasi came to meet him after attending the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly and discussed with him national and international issues.

Earlier, PM Abbasi arrived at Hasan Nawaz’s office in Marble Arch, central London, to meet Mr Sharif at lunch.

Speaking to the media later, PM Abbasi said that they did not discuss who was going to become the party chief and it would be decided after consultation among the party’s senior leaders.

He said democracy emerged victorious in the NA-120 by-election as people had given their decision.

After arriving in London, Shahbaz Sharif rejected the impression of any differences within the party, saying it could be the propaganda of the opponents of the PML-N.

When asked whether his elder brother would return home, he said Pakistan was his home and he would definitely return.

Answering another question as to why former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was not participating in the consultation process, he said: “Sometimes there must be a reason for not participating [in a meeting]...However, I am not aware of this London meeting.”

He said he had come to London to inquire about the health of Kulsoom Nawaz.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2017