Shehbaz has the last laugh as Hudaibiya case quashed 

–Is clean chit to Shehbaz bad news for Imran?

ISLAMABAD: It seems Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had the last laugh, as the apex court bench on Friday rejected the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) plea to reopen the Hudaibiya Papers Mills case.

With the rejection of the NAB’s appeal, Shehbaz Sharif has emerged as the potential candidate for the slot of prime minister if Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wins the next elections.

This is perhaps the reason that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan looked perturbed with the Supreme Court verdict in case, as a clean chit to Shehbaz Sharif is a blow to his dreams of capturing the top slot.

It was quite upsetting for Shehbaz Sharif when the NAB chief appointed Shah Khawar as the special prosecutor general of the NAB. Khawar is a longtime loyalist of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and is quite hostile towards the Sharif family. However, the court’s verdict came as a reprieve for the younger Sharif—Shehbaz.

The PML-N sources claimed that party chief Nawaz Sharif was urged to name Shehbaz Sharif as his successor during the recent party huddle held in London. If so, Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Nawaz, will have to wait for the time being.

Shehbaz also enjoys proximity to the military and civilian bureaucracy and it seems that his continued efforts to convince his elder brother not to blame the military establishment for his ouster proved successful. Moreover, the younger Sharif also claims of having full backing from China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Another major factor in Shehbaz Sharif’s favour is that almost all the second-tier leadership of the party has been developing a consensus over Shehbaz Sharif’s name for the PM slot.

A source in the ruling party told this scribe that even those party leaders who were hostile towards Shehbaz Sharif in past were now lending support to the current Punjab CM.

“Even Khwaja Asif and Khwaja Saad Rafique – the two important leaders of Kashmiri group who always rallied against Shehbaz Sharif and allied themselves with Kulsoom Nawaz – are now supporting Shehbaz.

However, the source said that Maryam Nawaz was the only reason who had always kept both Khawajas at bay.

In recent past, Saad had also said that Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz were not leaders of the PML-N, naming Nawaz and Shehbaz as the party leaders.

“A clear majority of the party lawmakers informed the party leadership in clear terms that they were not comfortable with Nawaz Sharif bashing the military following his ouster,” the source informed.

“The party lawmakers have clearly told Shehbaz Sharif that they preferred him over Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, following their hard hitting statements against military and superior judiciary,” it said.

The source further said that the sitting lawmakers were mulling options to join Imran Khan’s PTI, in case the party leadership was not handed over to Shehbaz.

Another PML-N leader told Pakistan Today that before leaving for London, Maryam Nawaz had summoned party’s lawmakers from Kasur district and directed them to directly report to her regarding future development projects, instead of Shehbaz or Hamza Shehbaz.

However, the said lawmakers reported the matter to Shehbaz Sharif, who, then, directed all the MPAs not to meet Maryam in future.

Following this, when Maryam summoned party’s lawmakers from Okara is Islamabad, no one had turned up. The next day Maryam had left for London.

It is worth mentioning here that several party lawmakers have asked Nawaz Sharif publically to handover the party reins to Shehbaz Sharif.