EX-PM SHARIF TO FACE FURTHER GRAFT HEARINGS FROM PRISON
▶ Convicted Pakistan politician and daughter Maryam arrested and jailed immediately on their return to Lahore
Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif will face further corruption hearings after he was whisked to prison on his return to the country, officials say.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam were taken to prison in Rawalpindi on Friday night after they flew back from London to their electoral stronghold of Lahore.
The pair surrendered to officials of the National Accountability Bureau less than two weeks before polling in Pakistan’s general election and as Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League appears to be losing ground to Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf.
Their return a week after being convicted by an anti-corruption court in their absence is widely seen as an electoral gamble to try to reinvigorate his party’s fortunes.
Both say they will appeal against their convictions. Sharif was given 10 years in jail and Maryam, his likely political heir, seven years while they were visiting his wife in a London hospital.
He was found guilty of failing to disclose how his family came to buy expensive flats on London’s Park Lane.
The Ministry of Law and Justice said yesterday that Sharif would face further trial over holdings in Al Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment. The anti-corruption court will sit in Rawalpindi’s central jail.
Sharif and his daughter touched down in Lahore on Friday evening accompanied by aides and reporters.
The pair were immediately arrested and ushered to a waiting jet that flew them to Islamabad from where they were transferred to the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The pair were given medical checks then placed in special “B-class” accommodation reserved for prisoners whose “social status, education or habit of life have been accustomed to a superior mode of living”.
The cells held a bed, chair, teapot and lamp, although prisoners can pay extra for a television, fridge and air conditioning.
The Sharifs’ return came at the end of a tense day of political protest in Lahore which saw up to 20,000 rally in his support despite a sweeping security crackdown.
PML-N leaders had called on supporters to turn out as a show of strength to mark Sharif’s return. But 36 hours before his arrival scores of party activists were arrested in an apparent move to curb the protests.
Shipping container barricades were placed across roads to the airport and mobile phone coverage was cut off in large parts of the city. Broadcasters were warned about their reporting and a ban on protests was placed on the city.
Sharif had posted a video to supporters as he made his way to Pakistan through Abu Dhabi. He called on followers to stand with him and “change the fate of the country”.
“The country is at a critical juncture right now,” he said. “I have done what I could. I am aware that I have been sentenced to 10 years and I will be taken to a jail cell straight away but I want the Pakistani nation to know that I am doing this for you.”
Sharif has claimed the military is pushing a “judicial witch hunt” against him and his party. He has repeatedly clashed with military leaders in the past five years and was removed by a military coup in 1999 during an earlier term as prime minister.
The PML-N had been seen as favourite for re-election until recently but it has appeared to lose ground.
Mr Khan, the cricketer turned politician, campaigned for an investigation into Sharif’s finances after the 2016 Panama Papers leak linked his family to offshore companies.
With Sharif in prison and barred from standing, the PML-N is now being led by his younger brother Shahbaz.