Nawaz, Fazl discuss seats adjustment ahead of polls

Avenfield case: IHC to hear Nawaz lawyers on 27th.

ISLAMABAD\LAHORE  -  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lead­ers Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday held discussions on current political scenario with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F). After arriving at Rehman’s res­idence in Islamabad both the former prime min­isters extended condolences to Rehman over the sad demise of his mother-in-law. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hydari, Ishaq Dar, Maulana Asad Mehmood, and Engineer Ziaur Rahman attended the meeting.

Senior PML-N leader and former Interior Minis­ter Rana Sanaullah Tuesday said his party would not respond to Bilawal’s diatribe against the PML-N leadership in a similar fashion because it did not want to escalate bitterness in pol­itics. Addressing a press confer­ence in Lahore, Sanaullah ex­plained, “The PML-N does not want to increase the bitterness; that’s why we are not respond­ing to Bilawal’s [criticism] in his own diction.” He even sought to justify Bilawal’s harsh criticism by attributing it to the political necessity of PPP to attract the anti-PML-N vote through an an­ti-PML-N narrative. Bilawal in his recent speeches launched a diatribe branding PML-N as the “Mehangai [inflation] league” and accusing Nawaz Sharif of preferential treatment from the caretaker government. Sanaul­lah said that PML-N would not adopt a similarly confrontational approach to Bilawal’s criticism as he underscored the need for col­laboration for the country’s bet­terment, citing the restraint exer­cised by both parties during their alliance in the previous coalition government led by the PML-N. 

He expressed a commitment to reducing, not increasing, bit­terness and referred to Bilaw­al as a brother, asserting that even after the election, every­one would be brought together for the country’s progress.

Sanaullah urged Bilawal to align his tone with his stature as the chairman of a party and cau­tioned against making inflam­matory remarks in politics. He emphasized that unity would be essential to overcoming post-election crises, express­ing the belief that Bilawal’s an­ti-PML-N rhetoric would not sway voters against the party.

Highlighting contradictions in Bilawal’s statements about the government formation, Sanaul­lah pointed out that he has been shifting positions from claim­ing their government is com­ing to talking about a coalition government. The time is not far when Bilawal would be predict­ing a PML-N government coming to power after another 10 days, he said in his satirical comment. Sanaullah stated that apart from securing a majority in Punjab, the PML-N anticipates winning in other provinces in the up­coming elections. In South Pun­jab, efforts are underway to bol­ster the electoral strength of the Muslim League-N, he added.

Highlighting the party’s past success in South Punjab, Sanaul­lah mentioned that in 2013, 34 out of 46 seats were held by the Muslim League-N, expressing confidence that this time they would win more than 40 seats. Trusted and influential person­alities from South Punjab are aligning with the PML-N, with recent joinings from figures such as Sami-ul-Hasan Gilani, Syed Mubeen Ahmed, Syed Mehsud Alam, and Syed Mubin Zaman.

Welcoming the new members, Sanaullah emphasized that they joined the PML-N due to strong political backing in their respec­tive constituencies. He defended the concept of electables, stating that if a party worker is strong in a constituency, they would contest elections for the work­er. However, if the worker sug­gests electables for a constituen­cy, the party would issue tickets accordingly. Sanaullah assert­ed that the PML-N aims to form the government based on its majority in the upcoming gen­eral elections, promising to ad­dress the challenges faced by the people. He recalled the progress achieved under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif in 1999 and 2013, expressing determination to bring the country back on track. Addressing concerns about de­mocracy, Sanaullah acknowl­edged its gradual strengthening, emphasizing the need for refin­ing these processes over time. Regarding the establishment’s role in recent political events, he stated that it remained neutral during the no-confidence mo­tion against Imran Khan in 2022.

Responding to questions about Khawar Maneka’s recent inter­view, Sanaullah deemed the con­tent correct, raising questions about Imran Khan’s actions. Re­garding the PDM’s role, he clar­ified that it was initially an an­ti-government coalition that later turned into a government coalition, emphasizing that PDM was not an electoral coalition. In talks with Maulana Fazlur Rehman in KPK, Sanaullah con­firmed that negotiations were underway with the JUI-F chief for seat adjustments. The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) Tuesday sought arguments from Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s counsels on November 27 on his appeal in the Avenfield reference.

A two-member bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq and Jus­tice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued the directions while hear­ing the appeals moved by Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption references. During the hearing, Azam Naseer Tarar, the lawyer of Nawaz Shar­if, informed the bench that they had developed a sequence for the hearing. He added that they had a plan to give arguments for the appeal filed against the Av­enfield reference first. 

At this, Justice Aamer asked from the counsel that how much time they would require to pres­ent his arguments. Amjad Per­vez, another member of Nawaz’s legal team, told the court that a decision on the Avenfield refer­ence has been made on merit. While Tarar added that the de­cision pertaining to the acquit­tal of the co-accused is final, as it was not challenged in the Su­preme Court. The IHC CJ re­marked that all that happened in the Al-Azizia appeal regarding the suspension of the sentence. He added arguments on mer­it were never heard in the case. Further, the judge asked Pervez about how many hours, and not days, would be required for ar­guments. The lawyer responded saying that he needed four to six hours. The judge said that in the Al-Azizia reference, the appeal was not heard by both the mem­bers of the bench. He told the lawyer to forget about Al-Aziz­ia case for now and only present arguments on Avenfield case.

Nawaz’s counsel said that the NAB had failed to provide any evidence. He requested the court to conduct hearing of the appeal, if necessary, on a daily basis. The judge also asked the NAB pros­ecutor the same question that how much he needed to argue the case. In his response, the lat­ter said he would need approx­imately half an hour time. The bench asked that does this mean that the NAB does not want to say anything? Later, the judge deferred the hearing of the ap­peals till next Monday (Novem­ber 27) and asked Nawaz’s law­yers to give their arguments when the court meets again.