A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release of jailed former premier Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law, suspending prison sentences given by a lower court pending the hearing of their appeals.
The Islamabad High Court’s order came as a reprieve for Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Muhammad Safdar, who had been incarcerated since July 13 after an accountability or anti-corruption court found them guilty of corrupt practices linked to the Sharif family’s ownership of upscale London flats.
The anti-corruption court, in response to a case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), had given Sharif an 11-year sentence and his daughter an eight-year term.
The high court bench of Justices Athar Minallah and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb accepted the appeals filed by the Sharifs and Safdar against the lower court’s verdict of July 6 and said their sentences will remain suspended until the final ruling on their petitions.
“For reasons to be recorded later on, the petitions of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Muhammad Safdar are allowed,” said Minallah.
The bench said the trio would be released on bail after paying Rs 500,000 each as surety. A date will be fixed later for hearing their appeals.
Following arguments by NAB’s special prosecutor, Minallah said the anti-graft watchdog, after conducting a thorough investigation, “couldn’t bring any evidence of Nawaz Sharif’s ownership” of the London flats.
“The prosecution has failed to show the properties belong to Nawaz Sharif. It also failed to prove how Maryam Nawaz was sentenced under the same charge-sheet which convicted Nawaz Sharif,” he added.
“Justice has been served and I congratulate Nawaz Sharif’s supporters,” former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, a staunch Sharif ally, said outside the courtroom, where PML-N supporters were seen celebrating wildly. Dozens of supporters chanted “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif!”
Three-time prime minister Sharif was ousted and disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court in July 2017 in connection with a case related to the Panama Papers leaks.
Sharif has maintained he is innocent and described the anti-corruption cases against him as politically motivated, suggesting collusion between the powerful military and the judiciary to remove him from the political arena ahead of the 2018 general elections.
The polls were won by Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is believed to have the military’s backing.
Former minister and senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told reporters: “Today the court has suspended the decision that was based on revenge.
“This trial is important because even a blind person in Pakistan will see that there was neither law nor Constitution in the decision and it was just pre-poll rigging to pave the way for Imran Khan to win elections.”
Observers said allowing Sharif and his daughter to leave jail and return to normal activities will have an impact on politics in Punjab, the country’s most populous province. The PTI rules the province but their choice of chief minister, a political non-entity, has put the party at a disadvantage.
Already there are rumblings within the PTI over the choice of chief minister as well as those appointed as ministers.
Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, is Leader of Opposition in Parlaiment, and the PML-N can bank on Sharif’s leaderhsip to reorganise and change strategies in Punjab.
“Nawaz Sharif can focus on Punjab and use all his influence and goodwill to draw support on the ground. In the short term, this may not lead to much, but this could be the beginning of the return of the PML-N to Punjab in years to come,” said journalist Mayed Ali.
First Published: Sep 19, 2018 15:47 IST