Suleman holds meetings with Nawaz

LONDON: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz has held a series of meetings in London with Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and the Sharif family patriarch.

Suleman returned from Pakistan to London last week and since his arrival he has met Nawaz every day at his office for several hours. Sources said that at these meetings, matters related to the government, PMLN and Sharif family politics were discussed.

Sources said that Suleman brought a message from his father for Nawaz to chart out ways to deal with the latest political challenges including the upcoming elections. The meetings between Suleman and Nawaz were held one-on-one where Shehbaz’s son briefed his uncle on various issues.

Confirming the meetings, the sources said that enemies of the Sharif family have done their best over decades to break the bond between Nawaz and Shehbazf and their children but they have failed badly. The source said that the Sharif family firmly remains united under the leadership of Nawaz, and Shehbaz was taking almost all decisions in consultation with the approval of his elder brother.

Nawaz and Suleman have also met a group of senior businessmen from Pakistan during last week. Suleman ended his self-imposed exile in December last year and returned to Pakistan. He spent two months there and appeared before the courts in the cases registered against him mainly by former accountability czar Shahzad Akbar. The FIA has already told the courts that they don’t have a case against Suleman.

The Assets Recovery (ARU), headed by Akbar, had Suleman investigated in London in Shehbaz Sharif’s money-laundering and misuse of public office case by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) but he was given a clean chit after two years of investigation by the UK’s top anti-corruption sleuths.

Before leaving for Pakistan. Suleman said he was forced to leave Pakistan after fake and manipulated cases were registered against him and his family in order to facilitate a new political order.

While Suleman was in London, the ARU sent over a dozen requests to the UK government – through the UK Home Office and the British High Commission - to extradite him to Pakistan and run cases against him in the UK but Suleman countered all efforts of the PTI govt. The ARU was successful only in getting the NCA to investigate Suleman and his father but in the end the high-profile investigation ended without any findings of corruption or illegality.

PMLN Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz, after returning to Pakistan, had said that Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan but a date has not been given yet. It’s understood that the Sharif family is weighing its options around the return of Nawaz to Pakistan at the appropriate time, which is likely to be around the next general elections.