LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that Nawaz Sharif will continue to lead the PML-N even he is removed from the office of party president.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, the minister said ‘some people’ wanted to use the Supreme Court for removing Mr Sharif from the office of the party president; if this happened the campaign to give respect to the ballot would further get strengthened.

“In either case Nawaz Sharif is to lead the party and such a verdict will have no impact on the [party] politics,” he said and added that there had been no differences in PML-N as the party was united under his (Nawaz) leadership.

The Supreme Court has reserved verdict on the petition seeking removal of Nawaz Sharif from the office of party head. The petitioners say holding of party office by a disqualified person is against section 5 of the Political Parties Order and is in sheer violation of article 17 of the Constitution.

Following his disqualification in the Panama Papers case in July last Mr Sharif managed the passage of Election Bill 2017 from parliament, paving way for a disqualified person to hold a political party’s office.

Nawaz Sharif during a public rally recently had expressed his fear that the court might bar him from holding the party office.

Sanaullah further said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s comment that the Supreme Court had given a “weak verdict” in the Panama case, was in fact admission of the popularity of Nawaz Sharif’s strong narrative.

Mr Sharif was ousted for not withdrawing salary from the firm of his son, he said, adding his (Nawaz) name was not even in the Panama Papers case.

The law minister said the PML-N would make public the ‘tactics’ of the National Accountability Bureau officials to prepare references and collection of evidence against the Sharif family members. “Before this year’s election we will tell the people about pressure tactics of NAB officials in this regard,” he said.

Rana Sanaullah passed some sarcastic remarks on Imran Khan’s marriage with Bushra Maneka.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018