Top PML-N leaders attend Sharif family wedding

LAHORE/LONDON: Former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and other members of the Sharif tribe attended a wedding ceremony of Ibrahim Tariq Shafi in Lahore — son of Nawaz's loyalist Tariq Shafi. 

Ibrahim Tariq Shafi, a London School of Economics (LSE) graduate, now runs affairs of the Ittefaq Group of Companies. At the wedding, Nawaz recalled the loyalty shown by Tariq Shafi to him during the worst of times.

Those who attended the wedding also included caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman and other prominent personalities.

Who was Tariq Shafi?

Tariq Shafi was Nawaz’s cousin and a renowned industrialist.

He spent nearly four years in exile in London. He was asked by the Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to become a witness against Nawaz Sharif in Avenfield case. It is because Shafi worked as CEO of the then-Gulf Steel Mill in Dubai back in the 1970s.

Shafi stayed in London for nearly four years and spent time between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and London. After the PTI came to power, Imran Khan’s government sent multiple requests to the UK government to extradite him to Pakistan. He had shown the correspondence with the Home Office to this reporter.

Also, the establishment operatives met him in London in 2019 and repeated the offer to turn against Nawaz and reap benefits but he refused.

He returned to Pakistan in April 2020. He died of cardiac arrest in Muree on June 28 2021.