LAHORE: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif is starting the second-phase of his public contact campaign from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sept 10 after his return from London.

“After his arrival from London by the end of this week, Mian Sahib will attend a public meeting in my constituency in Abbotabad, launching the second phase of his public contact campaign,” National Assembly Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi told Dawn on Tuesday.

Claiming that Abbotabad rally will be historic, Mr Abbasi said, “People here are eager to show their love for Nawaz Sharif as a great injustice has been done to him.” He said the rally would be a milestone in the KP’s politics, setting a perfect platform for the PML-N to win the next year’s election.

Last week Nawaz Sharif had gone to London to see his wife Begum Kulsoom who underwent a successful lymphoma surgery there and was reportedly recovering fast.

Expected to return from London by end of week

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is going to file four references against the Sharif family members in an accountability court by Sept 7.

The PML-N said the former premier would face the accountability as he never evaded it in the past.

Another PML-N leader told Dawn the former premier on his return would also hold public meetings in Multan and Lahore. He said it had not been decided whether Mr Sharif would hold a public meeting in NA-120 where his wife was contesting by-poll.

“On his return Mr Sharif will hold a consultative meeting whether to hold a rally in NA-120 in connection with his wife’s election campaign,” he said, adding the former premier would, however, cast his vote.

“Since Maryam Nawaz is running the campaign of her mother actively, Mr Sharif may not visit the constituency,” he said.

Maryam on Tuesday visited Abdali Chowk of Sanat Nagar and addressed the party workers. She asked them to vote for her mother to uphold sanctity of the ballot. “After getting an overwhelming response from the people during his homecoming rally from Islamabad, Mian Nawaz Sharif is thinking about holding another round of rallies in his mass contact campaign to ensure respect of their vote,” Senator Pervaiz Rashid had told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2017