Khawaja brothers released from Lahore jail after 15 months

LAHORE - Senior PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique were released from jail on Thursday.

The Supreme Court (SC) had approved the bail in a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Paragon Housing scam.

The bail was granted against two surety bonds of Rs3 million each.

The court maintained that the petitioners had cooperated with the NAB during the trial. Justice Maqbool Baqir observed that the NAB had not yet provided clear evidence in the case.

Khawaja Saad spoke to media after release, saying that the PML-N is a party which is inclined towards moderation and it has also proven it.

He said, “NAB and Pakistan cannot function together because the probe body’s law is based on dishonesty".

Saad said his party will not change its stance, adding that the people of Pakistan are with them.

The PML leader asked PM Imran to ‘learn to tolerate’ his opponents. The former railway's minister said that in the PML-N tenure there were no political prisoners.

NAB had arrested the Rafique brothers in December 2018, after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected their request for an extension in their pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to the housing society scam.