Dubai huddle may set stage for next polls

Coalition leaders jet off to Dubai to meet Nawaz

ISLAMABAD:

Important decisions are expected as key coalition government leaders are planning to meet PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in Dubai to mull over a political strategy, including setting a date for the dissolution of assemblies, caretaker set-up and announcing the schedule for the upcoming general elections.

The three-time former prime minister, who had been residing in London for medical treatment since 2019, has made a momentous return to the political arena by jetting to Dubai.

PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz has also departed from Pakistan to join her father, setting the stage for a crucial meeting.

Initially, government sources claimed that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also set to join the Sharifs on Saturday night, saying some other stakeholders were also expected to attend the Dubai huddle.

The sources said that the venue of the high-level meeting has been carefully chosen to avoid media scrutiny.

Later on, a senior PPP leader, while requesting anonymity, confirmed to The Express Tribune that Bilawal’s meeting with the PML-N supremo was confirmed as it was discussed in the party’s internal communication.

Since his self-imposed exile, Nawaz has rarely travelled out of London. Before Dubai, he has once travelled to Europe and recently went to Saudi Arabia, where Maryam had joined him.

The meeting between the bigwigs of the PML-N and the PPP is seen as significant and crucial as some sources say the huddle would decide the dissolution of the assemblies as well as the final date for the elections in the country.

To a question, the PPP leader said that the dissolution of assemblies was likely a week before its tenure ends as the same has recently been discussed by the ruling parties so that there is more time for the election campaign.

Soon after Eidul Azha, he said, things would start unfolding about assemblies’ dissolution, elections’ date and the names of the caretaker officials. “You will hear about these things in July; possibly soon after Eid,” he said.

Unlike the PPP leader, the key PML-N leaders were mostly tight-lipped, expressing ignorance about Nawaz’s meeting with Bilawal. They said they had no information about any such meet-up.

They, including information minister, reiterated that it was purely a private family visit but if a meeting had been planned between the two leaders, it was over and above them to know.

One federal minister of the PML-N, however, said that the meeting between them can’t be entirely ruled out.

Earlier on Saturday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted about Maryam’s departure, saying that she had left for Dubai on a “private visit”. The chief organizer, she said, was being accompanied by her family members. The minister confirmed that Nawaz had already reached Dubai.

The Dubai meeting has marked a pivotal moment for the ruling alliance, demonstrating the parties’ determination to shape the nation’s political landscape before the upcoming general elections.

From Kot Lakhpat Jail to London, Nawaz and Bilawal have been frequently meeting to discuss the political situation and vowing to work together.

In March 2019, Bilawal had met Sharif in Kot Lakhpat Jail after being sentenced in a corruption case. Later, in April 2022, the foreign minister flew to London to meet the three-time former premier.