ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s son Hamza have been given a say in the main decision-making forum of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The PML-N has constituted the new decision-making body named the Central Executive Committee (CEC), besides re-establishing its 110-member Central Working Committee (CWC).

PML-N President Sharif’s name was not on either of the lists. In a second announcement, PML-N spokesman Dr Asif Kirmani explained that Sharif would be heading both committees as party president and Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq would be a member of the CEC and the CWC.

Maryam was made a member of the CEC. This is the first time that she has been officially assigned an important position in a party forum. Hamza is also a member of the new CEC.

Besides Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Shahbaz Sharif, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan have been nominated as members of the CEC.

Several main political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) have smaller bodies named the CEC, which they use to hold consultations and make important decisions regarding issues of national importance. Till now, there was no such forum available in the PML-N and the party leadership had to struggle with convening meetings of the CWC due to its large size.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is also the acting secretary general of the party, said that the CEC had been created through an amendment to the party’s constitution made earlier during a meeting of its general council held in October in Islamabad to re-elect Sharif as the party’s president.

He said the party leadership had felt the need to create a smaller forum to make important policy decisions after realising how hard it was to hold regular meetings of the CWC, which has more than 80 members.

Iqbal said the CEC’s first meeting had been convened by Sharif in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the political situation in the aftermath of the sit-ins by religious groups over the issue of a change in the Khatam-i-Nubuwat declaration for electoral candidates.

He said in the meeting, party leaders will discuss a future strategy on the implementation of the points agreed by the federal and Punjab governments in agreements with the protesters.

Other members of the newly-formed CEC are: Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif; Senator Ishaq Dar; Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique; Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan; Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri; Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider; Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeeziur Rehman Hafeez; Minister for Kashmir Affairs Chaudhry Birjees Tahir; and lawmakers Pervez Rasheed, Sardar Mahtab Ahmed, Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Amir Muqam, Babu Sarfaraz Khan Jatoi, Asad Junejo, Irfan Siddiqui, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Chaudhry Sher Ali, Dr Kirmani and Maryam Aurangzeb.

Meanwhile, Sharif has approached the Supreme Court urging it to hold an open hearing on his plea that the three references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him should be merged into one case.

The decision of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on his similar request will be announced on Monday.