ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption reference, Sharif’s party said, with the judgment expected to bring him one step closer to be allowed to contest national elections early next year.
The Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, one of the two graft references that the ex-premier was convicted in, accused Sharif and his family of financial irregularities and money laundering linked to the establishment of the facility in Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Sharif to seven years in December 2018 and imposed a fine of £2.5 million in the case. The verdict also disqualified the ex-premier from holding any public office for 10 years.
Sharif, who had traveled to London in Nov. 2019 on medical bail, returned to Pakistan this year after spending four years in self-exile and appealed his convictions in both cases, Al-Azizia and Avenfield references.
On Tuesday, a two-judge bench comprising IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict, overturning Sharif’s conviction in the Al-Azizia case.
“By the grace of Allah Almighty my brother and quaid (leader) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has been vindicated once again,” Sharif’s younger brother and outgoing prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, wrote on X in response to the verdict.
“The sham cases created to disqualify a sitting Prime Minister are finally meeting their fate.”
Sharif was acquitted in the Avenfield reference on Nov. 29 by the same bench. The former premier was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case that involved purchases of luxury apartments in London.
Sharif, however, still stands disqualified from holding a public office by the Supreme Court in another case relating to the Panama Papers leaks in 2016, which linked Sharif and his children to several off-shore companies that were used by the family to buy properties in London.
The top court, in another judgment interpreting Article 62(1)(f) about honesty and trustworthiness, had later ruled that his disqualification was for life.
However, the outgoing Pakistani government this year amended the Elections Act, 2017 and limited the period of disqualification of lawmakers to five years.
Pakistan’s top court is set to take up the matter in January next year and decide whether individuals disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) could contest elections in light of the amendments to the Elections Act.
The South Asian country is scheduled to go to polls on February 8, following months of delay over demarcation of electoral constituencies.
With Sharif’s arch-rival Imran Khan behind bars on graft charges, his supporters expect the three-time former premier to take over the reins of the country once again.
In his message on X, Shehbaz also appeared to support this perception.
“The 7 years wasted were not just a personal loss but a loss of development and prosperity of Pakistan,” he said.
“InshaAllah (God willing) under Mian Nawaz Sharif’s leadership, Pakistan will prosper once again.”
Pakistan court acquits ex-PM Sharif in graft case removing another hurdle in way of contesting polls
https://arab.news/nkpm9
Pakistan court acquits ex-PM Sharif in graft case removing another hurdle in way of contesting polls
- Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to seven years in Dec 2018 and imposed a fine of £2.5 million in the case
- He still stands disqualified in two other cases, which Pakistan top court is expected to decide in Jan.
Pakistan’s defense minister backs army spokesman’s criticism of Imran Khan
- Khawaja Asif calls the military’s response to Khan’s recent remarks ‘measured’
- He accuses Khan’s PTI party of ‘changing its identity’ by siding against Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday defended a scathing news conference by the military’s spokesman a day earlier, in which the latter accused former prime minister Imran Khan of promoting an anti-state narrative that he said had become a national security threat.
Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), addressed journalists on Friday in response to Khan’s latest social media post accusing Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
During the briefing, Chaudhry described the incarcerated former premier as a “narcissist” and a “mentally ill individual,” though he said it up to the government to determine how it wanted to deal with him.
Asked about the military’s viewpoint against Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Asif told reporters in the city of Sialkot the former premier had long used harsh language against state institutions and political opponents.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said. “The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
The minister said Khan and PTI leaders had continued to target the army despite the sacrifices made by soldiers in the fight against militancy and during the four-day conflict with India in May.
He said PTI should recognize those sacrifices by supporting “our soldiers and martyrs” rather than “the terrorists.”
“Imran Khan speaks on every issue. Why did he not speak [in favor of the military] during the war [with India]?” Asif said. “Even during the war he kept targeting the military leadership. He continued to use inappropriate language for them.”
“People whose conduct is like this, whose language does not spare even the martyrs, how can they say ... that the DG ISPR should not say this or should not say that?” he continued. “He absolutely should.”
Asif added that Khan and his party had “changed their identity,” adding they were no longer standing with Pakistan.
PTI has not officially responded to his comments yet.
