ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has devised a strategy to deal with the party affairs through an advisory committee in case of Nawaz Sharif’s conviction in the NAB cases on December 24, and also finalised a plan to give tough time to the government both inside and outside the Parliament.
The decision to this effect was taken in the Central Executive Committee meeting of the party held here at the Parliament chamber of Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday. Before the meeting Nawaz led one-on-one meeting with his elder brother and party chief Shehbaz.
The OML-N had arranged the Central Executive Committee meeting of the party in Committee No. 2 at Parliament House but Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser had barred them from using the premises on the pretext that the Parliament premises could not be used for the party activities and then the meeting was shifted to the chamber of Leader of Opposition.
During the one-on-one meeting, Nawaz and Shehbaz discussed the overall political situation in the country with specific reference to the pending NAB cases and inquiries against the family members and other central leaders of the party.
Sources aware of the deliberations of the meeting informed that both the brothers devised a strategy to deal with the party affairs in case Nawaz was convicted in the Flagship and Al-Azizia corruption references.
They were expecting conviction of Nawaz in both these cases and it was decided that case the party affairs would be run through an advisory committee because Shehbaz was also facing corruption charges and would unlikely to get bail in these cases soon.
So in his absence the party would be run by an advisory committee which would take decisions in the absence of both Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif. However, the guidance of both Nawaz and Shehbaz would be there to the central party leaders in running the day to day affairs of the party.
Both Shehbaz and Nawaz expressed their resolve that they would not be cowed down by the coercive tactics of the government and would give tough time to the rulers both inside and outside the Parliament.
It was further agreed between the two, which was also endorsed by the central party leaders that the party must mobilise general public against the rulers and would point out and highlight the failures of PTI which had made lives of masses difficult as by their inept and faulty decisions the prices of essential commodities shoot up.
However, talking to a private television channel, Secretary General of the party Ahsan Iqbal said that they have not decided to mobilise masses against the ruling party right not but they would definitely be increasing mass contact campaign and would fight the legal battle to prove the innocence of their leadership in what he termed the false and fabricated corruption cases.
Later in the Central Executive Committee meeting which was held soon after the one-on-one meeting between Nawaz and Shehbaz was mainly attended by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Tanvir, Asif Kirmani, Abdul Qadir Baloch and Maryam Aourengzeb.
The meeting discussed the overall political situation and the imminent conviction of Nawaz in Flagship and Al-Azizia corruption references. In both these references the verdict was reserved on Dec. 19 and would likely be announced on Dec. 24 the deadline given to trial court by the apex court for decision.
It was decided that an advisory committee comprising senior party leaders would be constituted to deal with the party affairs in case of Nawaz is convicted.
It was further decided in the meeting that founding day ceremony of the party would be held as per schedule on Dec. 30 in Lahore and in case of Nawaz’s conviction it would be addressed by the central leaders of the party otherwise Nawaz would himself would preside over the event.
The party’s reorganisation also came under discussion and it was decided that the party would be re-organised at district level and as per the direction of Nawaz all the four provincial headquarters offices of the party would be reactivated.
Following his one-on-one meeting, Nawaz in a brief media chat said that the rulers had made the lives of common people extremely difficult and he was at loss to understand how a middle and lower middle class people would be managing their household budget.
Criticising the rulers, he said that in a couple of months they had caused irreparable damage to the economy and had completely failed to handle the governmental affairs.
Recalling the achievements of his government, Nawaz said that they had resolved the gigantic issue of load-shedding and contained the genie of terrorism and cleared the areas which were considered safe heavens for terrorists and brought peace and tranquillity to the country. To a question he said that they would be initiating the process of reorganisation of the party and hoped that the step would go well for the future of democracy and people of Pakistan.