Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif will return to the country once his treatment is complete, said PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz about her father on Tuesday. Maryam made these remarks after attending an Avenfield Apartments review petition hearing at the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The PLM-N VP said, “Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law,” and remarked that the Sharif family had been buried under accusations. “Imran Khan used to say if Nawaz went abroad there would no accountability,” she added. She also said that the case against her father should have been dismissed after the court decided on the Arshad Malik case.
The court has adjourned the hearing of the Avenfield reference against Maryam and her husband Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar until September 23. The cases filed by Nawaz were adjourned until September 10.
She arrived at the court early and spoke about her father’s treatment in London. “Mian Sahab’s treatment is going on, it got delayed due to the coronavirus,” she said, adding that no one wishes to be away from their homeland at such an age. Regarding the upcoming All Parties Conference (APC), she said that “I don’t think he [Nawaz] will tell us not to attend it”. Maryam also remarked that while Nawaz was ‘restless’ to return to Pakistan, she had advised him not to do us until his treatment was completed.
She spoke about the incumbent government’s performance as well. “I thought this government would take five years to give such a poor performance. The damage they were expected to do in five years has been done only in two years’ time,” she said.
On the subject of the APC, the PML-N leader remarked that the opposing sides needed to work together in these circumstances. “You will know at the APC that everyone is on the same page,” she said.
Former prime minister Nawaz has sought exemption from attending the Avenfield review hearing, while Maryam and Safdar have filed a request for adjournment. All three Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar are out on bail currently. Nawaz had been sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison and received an £8 million fine (Rs1.3 billion) in July 2018 in the Avenfield properties reference. Maryam was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million).
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed the Avenfield properties reference in the preceding year. This was one of three cases filed after Supreme Court’s verdict against Nawaz in the Panama Papers case. The reference is concerned with the ownership of the Sharif family’s apartments at Avenfield House, London.
Last month, a large number of PML-N workers showed up at their leader’s appearance before the anti-graft body. The police had set up barricades alongside other security measures outside NAB office, but suddenly a clash took place between the police and the PML-N workers with both sides pelting stones at each other.
The former premier’s daughter said that what happened earlier in the day was a moment of concern for the government. She had added, “Police threw stones at my car breaking its windscreen. I came here [to the NAB office] to cooperate with you. Now, why did you summon me if you were so scared [of me]? Muster courage to listen to me.”
