Sharif’s return delayed by two days

Ex-PM extends London stay as his ailing wife undergoes more medical tests

ISLAMABAD: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif has delayed his return to Pakistan by two days and, according to his revised schedule, he will now land at Allama Iqbal Airport in Lahore on Tuesday, via a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from London.

Sharif is due to appear before the accountability court on October 26 along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar in connection with references filed against him and his family members by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Sharif went to London on October 5 to be with his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing cancer treatment. He changed the date of his return to Lahore from Sunday to Tuesday because Kulsoom Nawaz would undergo some tests in the next two days, it was learnt on Friday.



At home, Sharif has lots of political matters to deal with, besides the accountability references. The latest issue to crop up is a hard-hitting press conference by federal minister Riaz Pirzada on Thursday, challenging Sharif’s leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Pirzada, the minister for interprovincial coordination, minced no words to suggest that Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif take over the PML-N presidency because the elder Sharif faced NAB cases initiated on the directions of the Supreme Court.

Sources close to the former premier, however, insisted that Sharif’s return to Pakistan has nothing to do with Pirzada’s press conference and that his arrival was scheduled beforehand.



A senor PML-N leader said on condition of anonymity that because of Sharif’s indictment in NAB references “the leadership decided to come to the country and face the trial to shun the impression that he and his family members are shying away from accountability”.

The other major issue, which needed the deposed PM’s immediate attention in Pakistan, is a report of a three-member committee he had set up to investigate the change in the text of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath in the Election Bill 2017.

Sources in the ruling party have said the inquiry panel – headed by PML-N Chairman and Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq and comprising federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Mushahidullah Khan – has fixed responsibility for the change on one individual.

Until Friday, it was still not clear when Sharif’s two sons, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, would be coming to Pakistan. The accountability court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against them and declared them absconders for not appearing before the court to face the references.