LONDON/LAHORE: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif will skip the walima ceremony of grandson Junaid Safdar and Ayesha Saif ur-Rehman expected to take place in Lahore in December, reports citing people familiar with the development said.
However, no date has been finalised yet.
Safdar and Rehman tied the knot in a private ceremony held in London in August which the former’s parents, Maryam Nawaz and Safdar Awan, couldn’t attend since their name is on the Exit Control List (ECL) owing to multiple cases of graft and money laundering against them.
The bride is the daughter of Saif ur-Rehman, a former senator who headed the Ehtesab Bureau, the predecessor of National Accountability Bureau, from 1997 to 1999 during the second tenure of Sharif.
The reception is expected to be attended by close friends and members of the Sharif family. Sharif and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is also in London, are expected to attend the event via video link.
The Sharif family has planned to turn the wedding into a political meeting, Channel 24 reported, citing sources.
The report further said former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazl ur-Rehman are also invited.
