Nawaz Sharif with his daughter Maryam. PHOTO COURTESY: BBC
The decision was taken during a meeting on Wednesday chaired by the Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal. The meeting was attended, among others, by the deputy chairman NAB, the prosecutor general (Accountability) and senior lawyers.
The NAB has 30 days to file the appeal beginning from September 19.
“The [NAB] meeting decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the IHC’s decision to suspend sentences of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retd) Safdar in the Avenfield reference after [acquiring] certified copies of the IHC decision,” NAB said in a statement released to the media after the announcement of the verdict.
Nawaz, Maryam, Capt Safdar released after suspension of Avenfield sentence by IHC
Earlier, the IHC in its short order suspended conviction of Sharif, Maryam and Safdar awarded by the Accountability Court in Avenfield reference. The short judgment was delivered by a divisional bench of the IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
Meanwhile, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) issued a guarded reaction to the judgment, stating that it respected orders of all courts.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that courts were independent and the PTI respected the Wednesday’s verdict of the IHC. He said the government would respect Wednesday’s verdict just like it respected all previous judgments.
NAB investigator records testimony against Nawaz
He called NAB “an independent and autonomous institution free to act on its own”, stressing that the government had no role in its decisions.
Chaudhry said the government and the people wanted to take action against elements involved in corruption. He said the nation wanted its looted wealth brought back to the country, adding that the government would ensure securing “this basic objective”.
He said the nation had no doubts about the role of the Sharif family, adding that it could not prove how the family acquired billions of rupees.
The minister said that the Wednesday’s judgment was given on procedural basis, adding that the process would be allowed to move forward.
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