ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the “punishment” being meted out to him was being done at someone’s behest.
Talking to the media after appearing before the accountability court, he said that it seemed the detailed Supreme Court order dismissing the review petition in the Panama Papers case was written by their political opponents.
“[Rejection of the review petition] was a message that Nawaz has to be punished at any cost,” alleged the former premier.
He said the “judge will not give punishment [on his own]” but would be dictated to do so.
Responding to a journalist’s question inside the court premises about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s bail approved by the anti-terrorism court (ATC) the other day, Nawaz said the courts had double standards. “We are striving against these double standards and will take this struggle to its logical end.”
He added that the principles and criteria of courts differ in his and Imran’s cases.
He stated the judges used harsh words in the detailed verdict that were usually stated by political opponents.
Nawaz recalled that he made similar remarks in 1999 after his government was ousted in a military coup in the plane highjacking case, saying he was “entrapped” at that time and the same was being repeated now.
Meanwhile, the accountability court on Wednesday formally began the trial of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar in three corruption references filed against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The prosecution’s first witness, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) Joint Registrar Sidra Mansoor, recorded her statement in the Avenfield flats reference.
Before the court proceedings began, both Maryam and her father filed separate applications for exemption from future court hearings.
In her application, Maryam said that she would present herself in court whenever called, however, if she had to leave the country in case of an emergency, the court should allow her representative Jahangir Jadoon to appear in court on her behalf.
The ousted PM, in his application, said that he should be exempted from trial hearings for a week, as the next cycle of his wife’s chemotherapy was about to begin.
Published in Daily Times, November 16th 2017.
