Nawaz Sharif might leave Pak before elections, claims veteran leader Aitzaz Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: Veteran politician and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif might once again leave the country before the upcoming general elections and track the results from overseas, The Express Tribune reported.

Ahsan made the remark during an interview with a private news channel on Friday.

Noting that the PML-N leader "is abroad anyways", he added that the possibility of Nawaz's absence during the crucial electoral period cannot be ruled out.

Ahsan claimed further that JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman could potentially withdraw from the race, The Express Tribune reported.

He described him as drumming the beats of retreat rather than victory, signalling a step back from active participation.

"Two drums that are beaten -- either of victory or retreat -- Fazl seems to be beating the drum of a retreat," he said.

Earlier, he labelled Nawaz as a 'ladla' (privileged) and accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the interim government of orchestrating efforts to secure a two-thirds majority for Nawaz Sharif in the upcoming elections, The Express Tribune reported.

Nawaz was on a four-year self-imposed exile and returned to Pakistan on October 21. On his return to his homeland, he expressed disinterest in seeking retribution and emphasised embarking on a new path towards progress.

Highlighting the ongoing confrontations between the PTI and the ECP, Ahsan criticised the electoral body's persistence in pursuing the matter further.

He questioned the ECP's role and suggested that it should focus on conducting elections rather than engaging in disputes, as reported by The Express Tribune.

Ahsan, while referring to the ECP decision challenging the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) ruling reinstating PTI's election symbol, criticised the ECP's bias against the party. "Is the ECP conducting elections or contesting them?" he asked.

He also claimed the commission's reluctance in complying with the PHC's directives, including the publication of PTI's intra-party elections certificate on the ECP's official website and the restoration of the party's election symbol.

He also weighed in on the repercussions of contesting judgements saying it would lead to a chain reaction of legal challenges, The Express Tribune reported.

Questioning the legitimacy of such action, he said, "If the high court reverses the decision of the district court, should the district judge go to the Supreme Court to ask why the high court has given a decision against his decision?"