LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif held a marathon meeting with his elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the latter’s Raiwind residence on Sunday and discussed with him a host of issues including selection of a new party president after the latter was disqualified by the Supreme Court to hold the office.

While no statement was issued regarding the discussion, the session held days before a scheduled meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Central Working Committee continued for more than three hours.

Sources said the Sharif brothers discussed selection of new party president, a strategy for winning the Senate polls in which PML-N candidates have been denuded of party tickets in light of the apex court’s order, the cases being heard by accountability courts against the Sharifs as well as the situation emerging since the arrest of a Punjab bureaucrat by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a corruption case.

The party’s Central Working Committee is scheduled to meet in Lahore on Tuesday primarily to nominate an acting president as per the party constitution until a new chief is formally elected within 45 days after the disqualification of elder Sharif.

PML-N law bars Shahbaz from becoming acting chief, CWC meets tomorrow to nominate leader

Some private TV channels reported that Shahbaz, who is Punjab chapter’s chief of the PML-N, was told by his brother that he would be appointed acting president of the party. However, a senior party leader denied the reports, explaining that only central senior vice-president could be promoted to the office as per party rules.

“The party law says that the CWC could only ask one of the senior vice-presidents to act as the president until a new chief is elected in a formal election process,” PML-N central information secretary and federal climate change minister Mushahidullah Khan told Dawn by phone.

He said the new president would be elected by the party’s 1,600-plus strong General Council, the electorate college for the office, whose meeting would be convened after the Senate polls scheduled to be held on March 3.

Currently, Senator Yaqoob Khan Nasar, the Balochistan leader who had served as acting president after the July 28, 2017 apex court verdict disqualified Nawaz Sharif to hold the office, Saranjam Khan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ex-adviser to PM Sartaj Aziz, and Sardar Changez Marri are among the list of SVPs.

Subedar Niaz Khan, the PML-N election commission member, however, differs with the minister’s views and claims that the condition of selecting someone from among the SVPs applies only when the president has to give his replacement. The CWC can go out of the list, he said.

Responding to a query, the minister said the CWC nominated on Dec 2, 2017 was dissolved in the wake of the apex court verdict against Nawaz Sharif’s presidency. The previous CWC stood revived and members of that old body would attend the Lahore meeting, he added.

The PML-N came into being in 1990, and since then, Shahbaz Sharif is the only person, other than Nawaz Sharif, to have held the office of party chief for a full term.

Mr Shahbaz had served as the party chief for three consecutive terms — between 2002 and 2011 — when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been convicted in a plane hijacking case following Gen Musharraf’s military coup.

Meanwhile, a group within the party is working to delay a decision on party president until mid-March when fate of elder Sharif would become clear whether he is absolved of corruption cases or imprisoned by courts. The group expects that Mr Sharif’s influence in decision making in the party will be significantly reduced if he’s imprisoned and then they will be able to install more and more members of their group on party offices.

As the judge of the Islamabad accountability court hearing references against Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz is set to retire on March 5, if he doesn’t adjudicate the NAB references before his retirement the cases may linger on because the new judge will have to hear the cases anew.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2018