Nawaz Sharif ‘unhappy’ over secret meeting of PML-N leaders with Shahbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: A secret meeting of three senior PML-N leaders with Shahbaz Sharif on the “request” of a senior representative of the 'establishment' has “upset” former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, according to a report published in The News on Friday.

The publication, citing informed sources, said Nawaz was unhappy when he was told that top party leaders Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Tanvir Hussain had met Shahbaz while he was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the “request of a senior representative of the establishment”.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Advisor on Accountability and Interior Barrister Shahzad Akbar had also revealed in a recent press briefing that the PML-N president is holding 'secret' meetings in jail, but refused to divulge any details. 

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When contacted by The News, Ahsan Iqbal claimed that the three had only met their party president (Shahbaz) after duly informing Nawaz Sharif they would be doing so. He denied reports that Nawaz Sharif was angry with them.

Also denying that the 'establishment' had arranged the meeting, Iqbal said it was the leaders themselves who had requested NAB for the meeting.

‘Nawaz denied meeting’

PML-N sources, however, said that their party delegation had met Shahbaz Sharif with a message for him. 

“Before this contact, an effort was made to contact Nawaz Sharif but he refused to entertain those knocking at his door while carrying a message from the establishment,” the report said.

Meanwhile, sources within the 'establishment' insisted that the meeting of the three PML-N leaders with Shahbaz was facilitated after Shahbaz's son, Suleman Shahbaz, had approached them with a request to arrange the meeting.

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The Prime Minister's Aide on Accountability and Interior, Shahzad Akbar, told The News that the meeting of three PML-N leaders with Shahbaz Sharif had upset the elder brother. Akbar, however, had been reluctant to name the three PML-N leaders who had met the PML-N president.

He said that, according to the information he had, the three leaders had shared their concern about the “aggressive stance” adopted by Nawaz Sharif.

The special assistant reiterated that Nawaz Sharif was upset about the three PML-N leaders meeting Shahbaz. From that point on, Akbar said, Nawaz Sharif had decided to assume direct control of the party.

‘Bilawal changing focus towards PTI’

Sources spoke of increased contacts between the 'establishment' and PML-N leaders of late, but said Nawaz Sharif is not yet ready to soften his stance.

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Unlike Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maryam Nawaz, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), who do criticise the establishment but refrain from naming names, Nawaz has started accusing persons that he believes were associated with electoral engineering and his corruption conviction by name. 

His aggressive stance has upset many, including those in the government, in the establishment and even some within his own party.

In contrast to Nawaz Sharif’s stance, the PPP and its chairperson Bilawal Bhutto are now shifting the focus of their criticism from the establishment to Imran Khan’s government.