LAHORE -  Former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has left for London todaywhere his spouse Begum Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif is undergoing treatment for the cancer disease.

Sources in the party confided to this scribe that Sharif has left for London through a PIA flight in the morning today and will come back on September 5. They said Sharif, after returning to Pakistan, will supervise election for the central president of the PML-N on September 7.  It may be mentioned that after Sharif left for London, only his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, will be left in the country, though her grandmother and Nawaz Sharif’s mother Begum Shamim Akhtar will be present in Jati Umra. Maryam is leading the election campaign of her mother Begum Kalsoom Nawaz in NA-120 Lahore.

Previously Sharif’s sons Hassain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz had left for London in mid July. Following them, Hamza Shehbaz, the nephew of Nawaz Sharif, left for London on August 22 while another six members of Sharif family flew for UK on August 25. They included Salman Shehbaz, younger brother of Hamza, his spouse and two kids, and his sister Zainab and Asma Nawaz Sharif, the daughter of Nawaz Sharif and daughter in law of Ishaq Dar.

The departure of the Sharifs is following the Supreme Court’s disqualification verdict against Sharif on July 28 when the apex court had also directed the NAB to frame and file four references against the Sharifs taking lead from the material provided by the joint investigation team (JIT). During the process of investigations, the six-member team of the NAB had thrice called for appearance of Nawaz Sharif and his children to hear their defence on the charges but none of them turn up principally on the ground that they had moved the apex court for a review on the decision wherein they had also questioned the NAB references against them. Through their counsel, the Sharifs had also said the same to the NAB in reply to the notices. The NAB is due to report to the Supreme Court monitoring judge on September 8 about the filing of the references against the Sharifs. Media reports suggest the NAB is at the final stage of completing the investigations and the references thereon.