‘Sharif, Maryam to be held upon return’

Pollbound

: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will be arrested on arrival at any airport in Pakistan as they have been convicted in a corruption case, a minister in the country’s caretaker government has said.

Sharif and his daughter are currently in London, where his wife Kulsoom is being treated for cancer. They were given prison terms by an anti-graft court last Friday for corrupt practices linked to the Sharif family’s acquisition of four apartments in London in the 1990s.

Speaking at a “Meet the press” programme at Lahore Press Club, caretaker law minister Ali Zafar told reporters: “Law enforcement agencies will arrest Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz at the airport, if they do not get bail before landing in Pakistan.” The interim government, which is overseeing the general elections, has no mandate to interfere in the working of state institutions, he said. He added the verdict against Sharif and his daughter will not affect the general elections on July 25.

Maryam announced on Sunday that she and her father intend to return to Pakistan on July 13, and will take a flight from London to Lahore via Abu Dhabi. Sharif has said he is ready to face jail to continue his struggle to protect democracy.

In a related development, Maryam’s husband Mohammad Safdar, who was convicted and sentenced along with her in the same case, surrendered to the National Accountability Bureau after leading a massive rally in Rawalpindi on Sunday. On Monday, he was sent to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Jail officials said Safdar was shifted to barrack specified for “B” category prisoners.

ISLAMABAD