Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday stated that he will move the Islamabad High Court to challenge the Accountability Court’s verdict against him and his family in the Avenfield reference case.
Sharif was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of eight million pounds on Friday in the Avenfield case, while his daughter, Maryam, was sentenced to 7 years of jail and fined two million pounds. With this ruling, Maryam is barred from contesting the general elections. Her husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar was also sentenced to one year of imprisonment.
According to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sources, Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will be arrested upon their return to Pakistan.
Sharif on Friday reacted to his sentencing and stated that he has been “targetted and cornered”. He also said that he will return to Pakistan, serve his jail term and will continue to struggle. “All our candidates of PML-N are going to contest the election and during their campaign, they’ll use the platform to highlight the injustice done to us and our disappointment in the decision,” Sharif noted.
Sharif and Maryam are in London since June 14 visiting the former’s wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing cancer treatment there. According to the report, the defence lawyers have intimated their clients that the likelihood of getting any relief in the sentence would be difficult if they fail to return to Pakistan within ten days.
Captain (retired) Safdar’s name has been added to the blacklist, meaning that he cannot exit Pakistan through any airport, land or sea route.
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