Sharif returns today amid widening ‘rift’ in PML-N

Will appear in accountability court tomorrow to face corruption cases

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to land in Pakistan today (Wednesday) after changing his return plan twice.

He would appear before an accountability court on Thursday where he is facing corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau in line with the July 28 Supreme Court judgment.

Sharif was to leave Jeddah via Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-742 and land at Benazir Bhutto International Airport Wednesday morning.

The deposed prime minister landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday to perform Umrah. He was accompanied by his mother. He is expected to stay in Pakistan for a few days before leaving for London to attend to his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz.



Earlier, Sharif was scheduled to arrive in Lahore from London on Tuesday, and before that on Sunday, but he rescheduled his return plan each time before leaving for the kingdom to perform Umrah amid reports that he landed there to hold important meetings with the Saudi dignitaries to seek their help in dealing with the political crisis he is faced with at home.

The change in Sharif’s landing destination ‑ from Lahore to Islamabad ‑ fuelled speculation that the deposed premier took the decision because of his serious differences with his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Reportedly, the Punjab chief minister was advised by his aides to personally receive his elder brother at the Lahore airport in order to defuse tension. However, the elder Sharif, who is said to be not in a mood to mend fences, decided to land in the federal capital in a sign of escalating hostility between the N-League’s leadership at the Centre and in Punjab.

Some reports suggested that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visited Lahore on Tuesday to convince Shehbaz to shun hostility with his elder brother.

However, a close confidante of Sharif insisted that the deposed prime minister’s decision to land in the federal capital had much to do with the scheduled hearing of a reference against the ex-premier in the accountability court on Thursday.

“Landing in Lahore was not possible before Wednesday evening due to limited flight availability and it was hectic to get to Islamabad the next morning to show up at the accountability court,” he said.



But sources in the party’s Punjab chapter pointed out that Sharif mostly took aerial route for travelling between Islamabad and Lahore, and it was not difficult for him to make it to Islamabad for court hearing even if he landed in Lahore Wednesday evening.

“The differences [between the Sharif brothers] are serious and getting more and more apparent,” commented a Punjab chapter leader, requesting anonymity.

Punjab’s Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, however, did not see anything unusual in Sharif’s landing in Islamabad.

“Because of the hearing in the accountability court he (Sharif) has to land in Islamabad. Let us not scandalise everything,” he said.

“I have said a dozen times and I say this again: there are no differences between the Sharif brothers. The Punjab chief minister has clarified it and so has Maryam Nawaz. There is no room for speculation now,” Sana told The Express Tribune.

Three important issues likely to figure high once Sharif lands in Pakistan include pending trial against the Sharif family in the accountability court, internal party differences amid echoing vibes from the ruling camp suggesting a possible emergence of ‘Shehbaz League’ out of Nawaz League and reviewing the report of mysterious change in the clause of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat in the previous draft of Election Bill 2017, it is learnt.



A three-member committee set up by Sharif under the chair of PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq has held a senior cabinet member responsible for the change in the clause and left it to Sharif to take any action he deems appropriate, sources said.

Moreover, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada had demanded of the Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take over the party’s command since the incumbent party chief, the elder Sharif, was facing serious corruption cases in the accountability court.

Pirzada, who remained a member of the Sharif cabinet as federal minister sent shockwaves across the ruling party through his outbursts against the party policies.

Conspicuously, the Punjab CM has not responded to Pirzada’s suggestion, fuelling reports of widening cracks in the ruling camp.

Some senior party leaders are trying to mediate between the Sharif brothers, and arranging a one-on-one meeting between them. However, Sharif is said to be not happy with the recent turn of events.

He reportedly believes that reports of a rift in the PML-N are ‘leaked’ to the media by none other than the members of the Shehbaz group.