Nisar to speak up in ‘couple’ of days

Report abound that former interior minister was not invited to key PML-N moot

ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is expected to share his future plans in a couple of days amid reports of his serious differences with deposed premier Nawaz Sharif.

Nisar was conspicuous by his absence from the PML-N Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in Lahore on Tuesday. Some media reports suggested that Sharif had not extended an invitation to Nisar to participate in the CWC while others claimed that Nisar did not show up despite being invited.

There were reports that Sharif was not ready to invite Nisar despite the insistence of senior party leaders including Shehbaz Sharif, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Ayaz Sadiq.

In a social media post, Maryam Nawaz later in the day denied the reports attributed to Sharif and said the statement was ‘absolutely false’.

However, Nisar’s spokesman also issued a statement, which neither endorsed nor denied these reports.

“Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will issue a statement in the next one or two days over the alleged statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif and on the current situation,” he said.

It is claimed that the reported decision of the former PM not to invite Nisar to participate in the CWC meeting may have been the result of Nisar’s open opposition to the party’s political strategy adopted in the wake of the July 28, 2017 verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Panama Papers case.



After the verdict, Nisar had criticised his party’s strategy to tackle the situation. He had been advising the PML-N leadership not to stride the collision course with state institutions including courts. He has also been critical of Sharif’s political scion Maryam Nawaz’s role in the party at the decision-making level.