Court declares Sharif proclaimed offender
ISLAMABAD: A top Pakistani court declared the country’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile in London, a fugitive from justice ater he failed to return home to face additional corruption charges.
The move by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comes months ater Sharif was given the chance to voluntarily return home.
The next court hearing will be held in a week’s time, when the judges will discuss whether to proceed with the hearings and try Sharif in absentia.
Under Pakistan’s legal system, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government can seek Sharif’s extradition from Britain. If Britain accepts such a request, Sharif could be brought back in handcuffs.
The 70-year-old Sharif has been living in selfimposed exile in London ater Pakistani authorities in November 2019 temporarily released him on bail amid deteriorating health so that he could travel and seek medical treatment abroad. At the time, another court permited Sharif to leave the country for four weeks, with the option to extend the time abroad if he was not able to travel aterward.
Sharif’s bail later expired and authorities have already issued his arrest warrants for him.
Sharif is also facing criticism for not returning to Pakistan to atend the funeral of his mother, which took lace over the weekend in the eastern city of Lahore. His mother died in London recently.
Imran has repeatedly said he wants Sharif brought back to Pakistan for trial.
Imran has said that Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari have become a warning for others for their deeds.
He said that the public money stolen by them was Allah’s curse. “I have seen Sharif and Zardari facing (Allah’s) punishment by coming in and out of jails, moving abroad just to cover up their thet and corruption.”
Imran, while referring to opposition’s alleged corruption, said despite having appointed their man as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and signing Charter of Democracy ( COD) with rival party, the corruption scams of the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz ( PML- N) were unearthed through the Panama papers.
He said the corrupt people as well as their children had to tell lies throughout their lives just to cover up their thet.
In a separate development, PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz have been transferred to Kot lakhpat jail under tight security. They were released on parole for 6 days over the demise of Shahbaz’s mother.