Maryam, Safdar return today to face trial

NAB may arrest Sharif’s son-in-law as he lands in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Less than a week after their arrest warrants were issued, deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Mohammad Safdar are scheduled to return to the country on Sunday (today) to face a trial in an accountability court.

The two were scheduled to board Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-786 from Heathrow Airport in London on Saturday evening and land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Sunday morning.

Maryam and her husband are required to appear before the court on Monday for the hearing of a reference filed against the Sharif family on the order of the Supreme Court in the Panamagate case.



While Maryam has the option to get pre-arrest bail, the warrants of her spouse are non-bailable, which has given rise to an interesting situation — whether the son-in-law of the former PM would be arrested on return and sent behind bars. Under the law, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is bound to arrest Safdar as soon as he lands in Pakistan.

Senior government officials and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including a federal minister and two other lawmakers, kept mum on the issue when approached for comments by The Express Tribune.

On October 2, the accountability court issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of the ex-premier’s sons Hassan and Hussain and son-in-law Safdar. The court issued bailable warrants for Maryam.

Judge Muhammad Bashir issued directives to arrest and present Maryam, Hassan, Hussain and Safdar before the court on the next date of hearing. Deposed PM Sharif appeared before the court on October 2 but could not be indicted due to the absence of his family’s members facing the trial along with him.



Highly-placed sources in the PML-N said Maryam’s return to Pakistan had much to do with the trial in the accountability court where she and her husband were expected to appear on Monday.

However, some sources claimed that Hassan and Hussain had reportedly advised their father, sister and brother-in-law to stay in London. Maryam, on the other hand, is said to be not in favour of shying away from the court proceedings and is ready to face them. Efforts are reportedly on to persuade Hassan and Hussain as well to travel to Pakistan in the near future to appear before the court.

“Unlike her brothers who are settled in London on a permanent basis, Maryam has political stakes in Pakistan at a personal level and she is cautious about her reputation. She knows that shying away from the trial would earn her the status of being an absconder, something she would never like to be called,” party sources said, adding that she intended to pursue her political career in the country and wanted to come out clean from the pending trial.

“Regardless of the fact that you belong to one of the most powerful political families of Pakistan, you won’t have any political future should you not get a clean chit in this case that has sent a sitting premier packing. She knows this well and has no other option but to comply with the court proceedings,” a senior PML-N lawyer said, requesting anonymity.



Given the condition of her mother Kulsoom Nawaz who has had three surgeries in London related to the treatment of her lymph node cancer, Maryam may not stay in Pakistan for long and is likely to leave for the United Kingdom after a few days, the insider said. “But one thing is for sure, she’ll keep visiting Pakistan to show her political relevance.”

The ex-PM is scheduled to be indicted by the accountability court on Monday but he left for London a few days back to attend to his ailing wife and there is no indication that he would make it to the crucial court proceedings. For many, leaving for London ahead of the indictment is a tactical move by Sharif to skip being indicted.

“I think he is just trying to keep the trial lingering. That’s the best he can do. There is no way he can skip accountability. It’s been mandated by none other than the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” commented political analyst Kanwar Dilshad on Sharif’s visit to London.

“If he prefers to be absent from the court, his non-bailable arrest warrants can be issued, which would be extremely embarrassing for someone who was an all-powerful PM just in the recent past,” he said.