PM Shehbaz to attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral, meet Nawaz in London

PM expected to brief Nawaz Sharif on political situation.

PM Shehbaz to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, meet Nawaz in London. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will embark on a two-day UK visit during which he will represent Pakistan at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and meet PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

People familiar with the matter told a private news channel that the premier will visit England this Sunday, a day after concluding his Uzbekistan visit, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Head of States (CHS) summit.

The prime minister is scheduled to have a three-hour long meeting with the elder Sharif on the day he touches down in the country. He will spend a busy day in the UK capital attending a number of engagements.

PM Shehbaz will return to Pakistan on Monday soon after attending the state funeral for the late Queen — who died at the age of 96 on September 8 at her Balmoral Castle residence.

The coffin of the late monarch has been lying at the historic Westminster Hall since Wednesday.

Some 750,000 people in total are expected to file past the coffin ahead of the state funeral on Monday which presidents, prime ministers, royalty and other world leaders are due to attend.

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Australia, Canada and Jamaica will join the emperor of Japan among the congregation.

Shehbaz-Nawaz meeting

During the meeting in London, PM Shehbaz is expected to brief Nawaz — his elder brother and PML-N supremo — on the country’s economic and political situation.

The coalition government has not been able to achieve political and economic stability since its formation in April, while decisions like increasing petrol prices and soaring inflation have drawn criticism to Shehbaz Sharif’s government.

Senior analyst Suhail Warraich had revealed — while speaking in the private news channel in late August — that Nawaz is neither satisfied with the performance of Shehbaz nor Finance Minister Miftah Ismail. Warraich said Nawaz wants Shehbaz to review his policies.

Warraich added that Nawaz repeatedly asked him to call on Shehbaz and ask him to revisit his economic policies. “Shehbaz should take the public into confidence about his economic policies,” the journalist quoted the PML-N founder as saying.

Replying to a question regarding his meeting with Nawaz in London, Warraich said that Nawaz Sharif is absolutely unhappy with the economic policies of the incumbent government. He said Nawaz is not impressed by Miftah’s performance.

The analyst quoted Nawaz as repeatedly saying: “I had already proposed to you not to form the government and go for the general elections.” Warraich said: “It appears that Nawaz Sharif has made up his mind that he wants economic policy from Ishaq Dar alone.

Warraich said Nawaz wants Dar to work on the economy. He also said Nawaz doesn’t seem to be reposing trust in Miftah as he [Nawaz] believes that the finance minister doesn’t know much about economic policies.