ISLAMABAD, FEB 27 (DNA) – Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif has now assumed the role of ‘acting’ president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The announcement was made in the meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of PML-N in Lahore. Current Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrived at the CWC via helicopter.

Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz were also present during the meeting.

Earlier today, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting said, “The Central Executive Committee and Central Working Committee of PML-N will meet on Tuesday to hold discussions on the election of the party president.”

“Targeting a single party is undermining the parliamentary process,” she added.

However, sources close to the PML-N had disclosed earlier that Shehbaz would take on the position.

According to the sources, the party had called a Central Working Committee meeting in Lahore at PML-N Secretariat on Tuesday, where it will elect its new acting president and announce the date for the PML-N General Council meeting. The date will be set after the senate elections on March 3. Sources further revealed that during the council meeting, acting president Shehbaz will be elected as the new party president of PML-N.

Earlier in the week, during a meeting at Jati Umra, other important decisions regarding initiation of election activity were finalised. These would also be brought before the CWC meeting for approval. The decisions taken, according to Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and former information minister Pervez Rashid, were regarding the formation of party parliamentary boards, election cells, legal cells, a media cell, and activating the election office at the PMLN Secretariat – 180-H.

On February 21, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from being the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, issued a short order on petitions filed against Sharif’s holding of the party position after his disqualification in the Panama Papers case.

In its five-page order, read by Chief Justice Nisar, the court declares that any person who is disqualified under the Article 62 or 63 of the Constitution is barred from holding the position of “Party Head” by whatever name called.