The Istihkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) has issued a show-cause notice to their Additional Secretary General, Aun Chaudhry, due to his meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif.
The IPP clarified that they were not involved in Chaudhry’s meeting with Nawaz Sharif, which occurred at Lahore airport. A video showed the IPP office bearer meeting with the former prime minister and former finance minister Ishaq Dar shortly before Nawaz’s departure to Minar-e-Pakistan. The IPP has also requested a written response from Chaudhry regarding whether he met the PML-N leader “in a personal capacity.”
Aun Chaudhry, a former aide to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan previously supported Jahangir Khan Tareen and resigned as a special adviser to the Punjab chief minister in August 2021 after being asked to clarify his position in the context of differences between Imran and Tareen related to a high-profile sugar scandal.
In response to Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan, IPP spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan mentioned that the country is becoming unnecessarily embroiled in debates related to May 9 and May 28. Awan emphasized that surrendering before the court is the first step toward improvement, alluding to Nawaz Sharif’s ongoing legal issues.
Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, returned to Pakistan after a four-year self-imposed exile in London, receiving a grand welcome from his party at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan. He briefly landed in Islamabad, where he signed and filed appeals against the convictions that led to his imprisonment before leaving the country in 2019.
After a short stay in Islamabad, Nawaz flew to Lahore to kick-start his party’s campaign for next year’s election with a rally attended by thousands of his supporters. In his address to the crowd, the PML-N leader expressed his lack of intention to seek revenge against political opponents and called on all constitutional institutions to collaborate for the country’s development.
