Shehbaz Sharif to leave for London tomorrow

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for London on Tuesday to inquire about the health of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz who had recently undergone throat cancer surgery there.

According to the details, the chief minister will stay in London for three days and visit Kulsoom Nawaz and PML-N’s local leaders.

Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for upcoming by-election in NA-120, had undergone successful throat cancer surgery on Thursday.

The deposed PM is also in London along with his sons – Hassan and Hussain Nawaz. Whereas, his daughter Maryam Nawaz is in Pakistan and supervising the by-election campaign for her mother in Lahore.

Ealrier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore had dispatched two references against Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to its headquarters for a final review and approval before filing the them in the accountability court.

Quoting sources, ARY News had reported,  a reference against the Sharif family was forwarded to the headquarters, recommending seizure of Sharif family’s offshore properties, freezing bank accounts, and placing family members name on Exit Control List (ECL).

The second reference is against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar which has been forwarded along with the first one for possessing assets beyond means of his known sources of income.

It should be recalled here that a five-judge bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan on July 28 announced a landmark judgment in Panamagate case, disqualifying Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister.

Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the court verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s before he was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in a 2013 election.

Under the court orders, the NAB was tasked to file references against Captain Muhammad Safdar, Maryam Nawaz, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz as well as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The anti-graft body had summoned members of Sharif family to appear before it’s investigators in connection with probe into the family’s London flats multiple times but they failed to show up time and again.