LAHORE: Disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif has convened a meeting of senior party leaders in Islamabad on Monday (today) to discuss the national political scene, particularly the controversy over the new delimitations on the basis of the recently-held census.

PML-N information secretary Mushahidullah Khan told Dawn on Sunday that only senior leaders had been invited to the meeting to be held at Punjab House. Mr Sharif will reach the federal capital from Lahore by Monday afternoon to chair the meeting, he adds.

The PML-N top spokesperson said the recently-held census and the ensuing issues, particularly new delimitation of constituencies in accordance with the increase in population, were high on the agenda.

The ousted prime minister has already asked National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to use his good offices and bring the parties opposed to the draft law on delimitations to the negotiating table for removing their reservations.

Mr Sadiq has accordingly invited the opposition parties’ leaders for a consultation on Tuesday.

Alleging that the PPP is dragging its feet on the new delimitations issue, Mr Khan said the PML-N was worried that political wrangling could delay the general election leading to constitutional and legal complications. The PML-N, he said, might agree to the PPP proposal of holding the polls on the basis of old delimitations if it saw that the dispute could delay the elections.

He said a strategy on how to take the party into election mode and countering attempts of ‘some circles’ for holding early polls would be the other important points on the agenda of the PML-N elders’ meeting.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was in London for the past one week, came back to the country and would attend the Islamabad huddle.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif is also due to appear before the Islamabad accountability court in three references on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017