ISLAMABAD: After spending several weeks in prison, Pakistan’s former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, presided over his party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting in Lahore on Monday.
Sharif has kept a low profile in the country’s politics ever since he was released from a prison facility in Rawalpindi last month after an Islamabad High Court bench suspended his sentence in a corruption reference.
The CEC meeting was called on Sunday to assess the country’s political situation and devise a strategy in the wake of the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif.
The convention brought together leading luminaries of the party who took stock of the situation and took some important decisions.
Briefing a group of journalists after the meeting, former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah described his party president’s arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as “contempt of parliament” and “undemocratic.”
He claimed that the anti-corruption watchdog had no evidence against Shehbaz Sharif, adding: “This was an act of vengeance and an attempt to influence the outcome of the upcoming by-elections, just as the July 25 polls were manipulated through similar tactics.”
Discussing PML-N’s game plan, Sanaullah said: “The opposition has already requisitioned the national and Punjab assembly sessions. If the two assemblies do not convene tomorrow, we will start holding these sessions outside the parliament and Punjab Assembly buildings from Wednesday.”
He also hinted at the possibility of spreading these protests and “exposing such acts of vengeance,” if the government does not take the opposition seriously.
The former Punjab law minister said the CEC had taken some significant decisions and constituted various committees, though he refused to provide details and said the PML-N wanted to share them with other opposition factions first.
The veteran PML-N leader Senator Mushahidullah Khan rejected the speculation that Nawaz Sharif had been released from jail as a result of a covert deal, saying the former premier would have kept his office if he believed in striking deals.
Shehbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab and incumbent leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, was arrested on Oct. 5 in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case.
The scandal involves the unfair award of government contracts worth billions of rupees by the provincial government upon his instructions when he was serving as the chief minister of the province.
PML-N leaders demanded in their news conference on Monday that their party president be allowed to make an appearance in the National Assembly and present his case to the august house and the people of Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif resumes political activity after jail, chairs party CEC meeting
Nawaz Sharif resumes political activity after jail, chairs party CEC meeting
- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders term party president Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest as political victimization.
- Shehbaz Sharif was arrested on Oct. 5 in Ashiana Housing Scheme scam by the National Accountability Bureau.
Pakistan condemns Israel’s contentious move to approve land registration in West Bank
- Israel’s cabinet on Sunday voted in favor of beginning land registration process that makes it easier for settlers to buy lands in West Bank
- Pakistan’s foreign office says such measures in violation of international law, UN General Assembly and Security Council resolution
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Monday condemned the Israeli cabinet’s contentious decision to approve registration of large areas of land in the West Bank as “state property,” saying the move was in violation of international law and the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Members of the Israeli cabinet on Sunday voted in favor of beginning a process of land registration in the West Bank for the first time since 1967. The move is being seen by many, including the Palestinian Authority (PA), as measures to tighten Israel’s control over the West Bank area by making it easier for Jewish settlers to buy land.
The ruling Israeli coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties. The West Bank is among the territories that Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the PA.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the latest attempt by the Israeli occupying power to convert areas of the Occupied West Bank into so-called state property, and to expand illegal settlement activities,” Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson said such actions are “in clear violation” of international law, UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. It stressed that such measures must be rejected by the international community.
“Pakistan calls on the international community to take concrete measures to end Israeli impunity, and ensure respect for international law,” the statement said.
The foreign office reiterated its support for the people of Palestine in securing their right to self-determination, and for an independent, Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The PA presidency has rejected the cabinet’s decision, saying it constitutes “a de-facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration of the commencement of annexation plans aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity.”
The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.
