LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif flew to London on Saturday for a scheduled medical checkup.
The PML-N leader boarded a Qatar Airways flight and is expected to remain in the United Kingdom for nearly two weeks, where he will undergo a series of routine health assessments, party sources said.
Sharif’s departure comes shortly after he appeared in the National Assembly earlier this week and voted in favour of the 27th Constitutional Amendment — a bill that sailed through the lower house with the required two-thirds majority, even as opposition lawmakers walked out in protest.
The NA session was marked by heightened political activity and the presence of key national leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif himself.
Meanwhile, the political atmosphere intensified further as two sitting Supreme Court judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, tendered their resignations. In his seven-page resignation, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah described the 27th Amendment as a “grave blow” to Pakistan’s constitutional framework, warning that it further distances justice from ordinary citizens while strengthening the powerful.
In a separate development, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan criticised Nawaz Sharif’s current political influence, claiming the PML-N leader has “lost relevance” in national politics. Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, he said Nawaz’s presence in Parliament had little impact.
“He thought he would return to fanfare and be warmly received,” Gohar said, adding that “no red carpet awaited him inside Parliament.”
