Sharif should have been treated like “any other criminal”: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology said on Monday former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should have been treated like “any other criminal” and not been allowed to leave the country for medical treatment, a move that he said had set a double standard and belied the government’s promises of weeding out corruption.
Three-time PM Sharif, 69, was serving a seven-year sentence imposed last year for failing to disclose the source of income that allowed him to acquire the Al-Azizia Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia. He was released on bail last month after repeated medical issues.
Last week, the cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan voted to allow Sharif to go abroad for medical treatment provided he met certain conditions, including submitting indemnity bonds. On Saturday, the Lahore High Court gave Sharif unconditional permission to travel abroad, doing away with the federal government’s conditions.
A cricket legend and firebrand nationalist, Khan swept to power in last year’s election on a populist platform vowing to root out corruption among a venal elite.
“I believe that this was an unfortunate decision as Nawaz Sharif should have been dealt with just like any other criminal,” Chaudhary told Arab News on Monday, adding that the decision to allow him to leave Pakistan had “made many ordinary people more dissatisfied with our justice system.”
“People believe that this is not one Pakistan as we [the government of PM Khan] promised. We have like two Pakistan’s: one for powerful and rich and other for common man and ordinary citizens,” Chaudhry said.
Sharif and his brother, Shehbaz Sharif, the president of he Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) political party, have submitted affidavids in court that they will return to the country after Sharif’s treatment, after which the court ordered the government to remove Sharif’s name from a no-fly list for four weeks, without any conditions.
Sharif previously lived in exile in Saudi Arabia for seven years after his government was toppled by the Pakistan military in 1999.