ISLAMABAD – Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Law Affairs, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar has expressed that after the Avenfield verdict, former premier Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz would be brought back to Pakistan with the help of British government.
In an interview to a private TV channel on Friday, the minister expressed that Pakistan did not have any agreement with British government regarding extradition treaty but hastened to add that it was easy to bring those persons back to Pakistan who hold Pakistani citizenship.
‘Nawaz Sharif had the option to approach the British courts,’ said the minister and added that the legal process would be followed from Monday.
Asli Zafar said that the caretaker government would also implement the orders of the court regarding confiscation of the property of the convict.
He continued that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had the right to file an appeal against the court decision.
Highlighting the role of interim regime in the ongoing scenario, Zafar shared that the maintainability of law and order in the country was of prime importance, adding that currently there was no chaos in the country.
To a query about the National Accountability Bureau, he said it was a constitutional institution and we could not interfere in its affairs.
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Regarding the arrest of Maryam Nawaz’s husband Capt (Retd) Muhammad Safdar who is in Pakistan, he said National Accountability Bureau was taking action in this regard.
Earlier on Friday, judge Muhammad Bashir handed a 10-year sentence and £8 million (Rs1.29 billion) to Pakistan’s former prime minister in a corruption reference pertaining to Sharif family’s Avenfield apartment in London, UK.
In the detailed decision, Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir also sentenced Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, to seven years in jail for forgery and making assets through illegal sources in the landmark decision. She has been ordered to pay a fine of £2 million (Rs320 million).
Moreover, the judge ordered to seal the property in question, suggesting the government to do legislation to bring plundered money back to the country.
Capt (r) Safdar Awan, who is the son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif, was jailed for one year for cheating.
The Friday’s verdict is in line with Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, which pertains to corruption and corrupt practices.
Nawaz Sharif, along with his children, heard the verdict in the British capital where he is tending to his ailing wife, Kulsoom Nawaz.
