Lahore,
\nPakistan\u2019s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday left for Saudi Arabia amid reports of a \u201cdeal\u201d between the embattled Sharif family and the powerful military establishment.<\/p>\n
Sharif left for Saudi Arabia on a Saudi Airlines flight this evening. On his arrival he is scheduled to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman to discuss what the ruling PML-N said are \u201cimportant matters\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sharif, 67, had to step down as chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz after he was disqualified as prime minister by the Supreme Court on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.<\/p>\n
The Sharif family is facing three corruption cases linked to the scandal.<\/p>\n
The political future of Sharif, who leads the country\u2019s most powerful political family and his party, has been hanging in the balance since then. If convicted, he can be jailed.<\/p>\n
Sharif\u2019s family alleges that the cases are politically motivated.<\/p>\n
His younger brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is already in Saudi Arabia on an \u201cofficial visit\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Saudi government had sent a special plane for Shahbaz\u2019s travel to the kingdom last Wednesday. He is believed to have prepared the ground for the visit of his elder brother.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties say that since the Sharif family is facing multiple cases in courts and political challenges it needs its friends in the Saudi royal family to reach a deal with the establishment in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah objected to the Sharifs\u2019 Saudi visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like the matter is towards seeking forgiveness and that an National Reconciliation Order (deal) may be on the horizon. If such a situation arises, I think we will have to shut our courts and go home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel sorry to see that foreigners are being involved in local matters. If Saudi Arabia intervenes for reconciliation between the Sharifs and the establishment it will be shameful that Pakistan, a nuclear power, cannot make its own decisions,\u201d Shah said.<\/p>\n
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief and cricketer-turned- politician Imran Khan said his party would launch a movement if the Sharifs were given any relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Sharifs are given any relief after a deal we will be on the roads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif rejected the opposition\u2019s charges, arguing that the Sharifs had spent eight long years in exile in Saudi Arabia and enjoyed good relations with the royal family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lahore, Pakistan\u2019s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday left for Saudi Arabia amid reports of a \u201cdeal\u201d between the embattled Sharif family and the powerful military establishment. Sharif left for Saudi Arabia on a Saudi Airlines flight this evening. On his arrival he is scheduled to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad bin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16674,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions\/16674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}