Nawaz salutes Shahbaz for 'serving nation with honesty'

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that he salutes his brother Shahbaz Sharif "for serving the nation with honesty".

The PML-N supremo, in his address to his party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), said: “Shahbaz Sharif has shown unparalleled courage and perseverance and shown us what is to be steadfast."

"He did not bow down and did not let our narrative weaken; in fact he only made it stronger."

Nawaz added that the party is proud that their “comrades are facing the situation with courage”.

He said Shahbaz Sharif worked day and night to set up power plants in Punjab.

Nawaz said that despite the current happenings, the party's spirits are high.

"InshaAllah we will intensify our struggle," said the PML-N supremo.

He told his party leaders that if they played their "role by enduring the hardships with courage”, then the nation will be saved from all its troubles.

"I also salute those government officials who played a role in ending the energy shortage," Nawaz said.

PML-N advises Nawaz Sharif to return after treatment

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, talking to the media after the CEC meeting, said that the party has advised Nawaz Sharif to return after finishing his treatment in London but clarified that the final decision was his own.

Abbasi said that the PML-N discussed the decision made in Tuesday’s meeting of the opposition's newly launched Pakistan Democratic Movement.

He said the space for democracy in the country is shrinking fast and that during today's meeting the PML-N discussed restrictions on media and the ongoing rights violations in the country.

The PML-N stalwart also said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif told his party leaders that the situation in the country was like this because of the 2018 elections.

The PML-N leader, also hit out at NAB over the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif, saying that the NAB chairman must share why he signed the warrant for the opposition leader’s arrest.

"The arrest of Shahbaz Sharif is proof of the weakness and cowardice of the government," Abbasi said.