Civilian leadership including PM Abbasi arrives in London for PML-N huddle

LONDON - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi along with Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif arrived in the British capital on Sunday evening to take part in a top-level consultative meeting of ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.

The huddle that would take place today (Monday) would thrash out a strategy to cope with the challenges faced by the embattled Sharif family and the government’s position on what steps to take next.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif who flew off to Saudi Arabia last week, also arrived back in London along with his elder son Hassan Nawaz. Moreover, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif is also expected to head to the UK from Saudi Arabia.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is also in London, as revealed by his counsel Khawaja Haris before the accountability court in Islamabad.

In a brief conversation with newsmen on Sunday, the Sharif brothers rejected speculations about the early elections with Shehbaz Sharif reiterating that there were no differences in the party or family.

On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif decried his ouster from the office saying that the bearish trend in stock market was a sign of what was happening to the economy.

“When a government is weakened, the country gets weakened,” he said.

The PML-N president condemned the attacks on journalists Matiullah Jan and Ahmad Noorani calling for investigations into why Mr Noorani was targeted.

Sharif, who has been indicted by the accountability court regarding the corruption references filed by National Accountability Bureau would be returning home on November 2 after which he would be appearing before the court, the following day.