A meeting is scheduled before former PM Shehbaz’s trip to London.
There is video showing HC leaving Hassan Nawaz’s office in the heart of London.
According to FO sources, the HC’s meeting with Nawaz was a normal event.
ISLAMABAD: According to The News, the Foreign Office has verified that Dr. Muhammad Faisal, Pakistan’s High Commissioner (HC) to the UK, met with Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), last week in London before Shehbaz Sharif arrived in the capital of the UK.
The meeting took place just before announcements from the PML-N that the former prime minister was scheduled to return to Pakistan in the middle of September, which generated many questions about Islamabad’s directions for the HC to meet Nawaz immediately following the country’s transition to a caretaker government.
Later, a video of HC Faisal exiting Hassan Nawaz’s Central London office, the son of Nawaz Sharif, also appeared online.
“Yes, the encounter actually happened. We extend the same respect to all former prime ministers because Mr. Nawaz Sharif served as our prime minister three times, according to a source with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the FO sources, it was a regular courtesy call on the former prime minister.
Another government source remarked that the situation was difficult because Nawaz had technically and legally been found guilty and was evading justice.
The official stated that meeting prominent Pakistanis is “normal for Pakistan’s diplomats,” and Nawaz Sharif is undoubtedly one of them.
According to a Sharif family insider who spoke last week under the condition of anonymity, Nawaz will depart from London for Pakistan “after a month.”
Accordingly, it may be assumed that the former prime minister will visit Pakistan again around the middle of September.
The PML-N leader’s trip to Europe and the Middle East, which began two months ago and ended last week when Nawaz arrived in London, had been recommended by the Sharif family’s legal and political advisers to terminate immediately and return to Pakistan. Nawaz has been persuaded by certain PML-N members, though, to arrive in mid-September.
“Nawaz Sharif’s decision to return to Pakistan after ending nearly four years of exile is final and everything is in order,” the person who has been involved in the negotiations and preparations stated.
