Suleman Shehbaz joins Nawaz Sharif for key London plan meetings

• Suleman meets Nawaz every day at his office for several hours.
• Government and Sharif family's matters are discussed in meetings.
• Sharif family united under leadership of Nawaz and Shehbaz.    

LONDON: Suleman Shahbaz, the younger son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has held a series of meetings in London with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif.

Suleman returned from Pakistan to London last week and since his arrival, he has met the deposed prime minister every day at his office for several hours. Sources said that at these meetings, matters related to the government, the PML-N and the 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 the former briefed the latter on various issues.

The sources in the Sharif family confirmed that these meetings have been taking place on a regular basis where important matters were discussed. 

They also said that enemies of the Sharif family have done their best over decades to break the bond between Nawaz and Shehbaz and their children but they have failed badly. The sources said that the Sharif family firmly remains united under the leadership of Nawaz and Shehbaz taking almost all decisions in consultation with the approval of the supremo.

It’s understood that Suleman briefed Nawaz about the various matters and during these meetings future strategy to deal with legal and political matters was discussed. The former premier and Suleman have also met a group of senior businessmen from Pakistan over the course of last week.

Suleman ended his self-imposed exile in December last year and returned to Pakistan. He spent two months in Pakistan and appeared before the courts in the cases registered against him mainly by Shahzad Akbar, the former accountability minister of Imran Khan. The FIA has already told the courts that they don’t have a case against Suleman.

Suleman had reached London from Pakistan ahead of the 2018 general elections when several cases were made against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He was also named in several cases along with his father, the current prime minister, his brother Hamza Shahbaz and other Sharif family members.

The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) had Suleman Sharif 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 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 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. 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.

Maryam Nawaz, after returning to Pakistan, said that the PML-N supremo would 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 of Pakistan at the appropriate time, which is likely to be around the next general elections.