PML-N directed to give ‘powerful reception’ to Azadi marchers in Lahore

Shehbaz Sharif chairs party’s core committee meeting in Model Town

LAHORE: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has directed his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party workers to stage a ‘powerful reception’ for the participants of Azadi March upon their arrival in Lahore.

The decision was made during the party’s core committee meeting, chaired by the PML-N president in Model Town on Monday. Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Khurram Dastagir, Amir Muqam, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ataullah Tarrar, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and Marriyum Aurangzeb among others were present.

Shehbaz briefed the meeting on party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif’s health condition. The meeting also discussed possibilities of bringing foreign doctors and taking the former prime minister abroad for his medical treatment.

Ahsan Iqbal, while talking to the media before the meeting, said that the party will participate in Azadi March with full energy.

Blaming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for Nawaz’s health woes, he said the rulers failed to provide proper health facilities to the three-time premier at jail and in NAB’s custody despite repeated advices by the government doctors.

Sources privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune that senior PML-N leaders suggested that Nawaz’s health condition was not stable and he should be taken abroad for medical treatment.

Shehbaz, however, said that his elder brother and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will make the final decision in this regard. He said he had also shared with Nawaz and Maryam expert opinion of London doctors.

During the meeting, Shehbaz directed Pervaiz malik, the president PML-N’s Lahore chapter, to accord a warm welcome to Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Azadi March on its arrival in the Punjab capital.

Later Shehbaz, along with Khawaja Asif, Marriyum Aurangzeb and other leaders visited Services Hospital to inquire after the ailing PML-N supremo.