Nawaz Sharif bars PML-N leaders from holding meetings with military leadership

Perturbed by a controversy set off by some off-the-book meetings of PML-N politicians with the top military leadership, the party’s founder, Nawaz Sharif, has banned private meetings with military and intelligence officials.

“If required by national defence or the Constitution, then a meeting [with military, intelligence officials] would be held with the approval of the party leadership. And such a meeting would never be kept secret,” Sharif wrote in a series of tweets on his newly created Twitter handle.

According to Sharif, his new instructions are “in line with constitutional requirements and to remind the armed forces of their oath”.

Nawaz Sharif was allowed late last year by the government to fly to London for the treatment of his undiagnosed illness. However, the recent events have cast doubts on his mystery ailment as he has not undergone any surgical procedure thus far during his London sojourn.

However, his daughter Maryam Nawaz has sought to squash rumours, saying the treatment has been delayed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Despite repeated court summons, Sharif has failed to return to Pakistan to serve a seven-year jail term handed to him by a court after convicting him of financial corruption. Hence the court has declared him a proclaimed offender.

Sharif’s tweets came a day after it transpired that former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair, who is also a senior leader of PML-N, had met the army and intelligence chiefs twice since last week of August to discuss the issue of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Safdar.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid revealed that some PML-N leaders had had two off-the-book meetings with the military leadership. Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal also had met the army chief individually, according to Rashid. Ahsan, however, snubbed the claim as a “lie”.

In his tweet, Sharif said that the recent events have established how some meetings remain buried in secrecy, while the others are publicised after tweaking to serve a particular purpose. “This game should end now,” he added.

Zubair is said to have discussed the issue of Sharif and his daughter Maryam in his meetings with the army and intelligence chiefs. Maryam, however, told media persons outside Islamabad High Court on Wednesday that no one from PML-N had ever met the military brass at Sharif’s behest.

That aside, Maryam said she had heard about a meeting of parliamentary leaders with the military leadership at the GHQ where the upcoming election in Gilgit-Baltistan was discussed, though she personally believes political matters should be discussed in parliament.

Rashid said no doubt the September 16 huddle was convened to discuss the G-B issue, but the attendees – including Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto, Sirajul Haq, Amir Haider Hoti, and JUI-F’s Asad Mahmood – candidly discussed politics.

The military leadership made it clear to the participants that the army should not be dragged into political rivalries, saying that it is “not involved, directly or indirectly, in any political process of the country”.

“The military will always stand with the civilian government,” sources quoted a senior military official as telling the parliamentary leaders during the meeting. “Civil affairs and matters should be handled by the civil administration,” the sources further quoted the military leadership as saying.