ISLAMABAD - During his two days detachment from official activities, Prime Minister Imran Khan remained engaged with his legal wizards in coining an appropriate legal response to the Lahore High Court’s decision about ailing former primier Nawaz Sharif.
After intense brainstorming, the prime minister directed on Sunday, a day ahead of his resuming office today, to his legal team to present the review report on the court’s decision in the federal cabinet scheduled to meet today.
The Cabinet which previously had seven-point agenda for its consideration will now also deliberate and decide whether to challenge or not the Lahore High Court’s decision.
Prior to this development, the cabinet was to discuss the political and economic situation and consider a seven-point agenda.
As per the schedule, it will approve the National Tariff Policy and cabinet members will also be presented with a report on filling top posts in different divisions and ministries.
The cabinet will also approve the appointment of the federal insurance ombudsman and the CEO of the Cabinet Engineering Development Board.
It will also ratify the decisions made during the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee in addition to setting up of a cabinet committee for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
However, taking the Lahore High Court decision as a major blow dealt to his government, the Prime Minister directed the legal team to put this issue also before the Cabinet for its priority consideration.
The Lahore High Court in its decision on Saturday had directed the authorities to remove the three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from the no-fly list and suspended the government’s condition of indemnity bonds for Nawaz Sharif’s travel for immediate medical checkup.
Earlier in the day, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar said the LHC verdict on the removal of Nawaz’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) had reinforced the federal cabinet’s stance.
“Nawaz Sharif was granted permission on humanitarian grounds since his condition is serious and he needs medical treatment abroad,” he added.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said the ailing party supremo will travel to London on Tuesday via air ambulance for medical treatment.
In his initial reaction after a medical board formed by the government itself declaring that there were no options left but to send the ailing Sharif family patriarch abroad for treatment to save his life, Prime Minister Khan had agreed to allow Nawaz Sharif to travel purely on compassionate grounds despite many criticising him for striking a deal. But later he had to change his mind on the advice of some leaders during the previous cabinet meeting that PTI would suffer colossal political loss because of its home-grown narrative built around an uncompromising accountability process.
This was when the prime minister asked the Cabinet’s subcommittee headed by Minister for Law Barrister Farogh Naseem which recommended imposing conditions on Nawaz Sharif while removing his name from the ECL.
