Nawaz reaches Capital today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Quaid Nawaz Sharif is arriving here from Lahore on Monday (today) for multifarious political engagements.

He will have a weeklong hectic stay in the federal capital. PMLN sources told The News he would appear before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday (tomorrow) in his appeals against the sentences awarded to him by the accountability courts five years ago. He would seek an exemption for appearance from the court that had already fixed Nov 21 for hearing of appeals. Nawaz would have an important meeting with his longtime ally Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and he has also planned to undertake a brief visit to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Sources said several leaders of the PMLN and other political parties would meet the former premier in the federal capital and Peshawar. PMLN Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz and some other party leaders would also company him. A visit to Mansehra is also part of his tentative plan of visits. He would leave for his hilltop residence after reaching Islamabad on Monday where he had already scheduled a meeting with his legal team under Senator Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervez.

He would stay in Islamabad at the residence of Senator Ishaq Dar. Sources said ambassadors and high commissioners of some important countries would also have meetings with Nawaz Sharif during his stay in Islamabad. US Ambassador Donald Blome and British High Commissioner Jane Marriott visited him separately in Lahore at his Jati Umra residence last week. They had significant discussions with him. Nawaz is visiting Islamabad for the second time after his return from exile on October 21.