Nawaz will return after treatment: Maryam

PML-N leader hits out at govt for ‘inflicting colossal losses’ to the country in less than two years of its tenure

ISLAMABAD:

Maryam Nawaz, PML-N leader and daughter of convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif, said on Tuesday that her father would return to the country as soon as his medical treatment was over and his life was no longer in danger.

Sharif, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of corruption, was allowed by the government in November last to fly to the UK for treatment of his undiagnosed illness.

However, recent pictures of the former prime minister making the rounds on social media have cast doubts on his mystery illness. Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent television interview “regretted” his government's decision to permit the PML-N supreme leader to leave the country.

Speaking to reporters outside the Islamabad High Court, Maryam claimed that the coronavirus pandemic had delayed her father's treatment in London. The PML-N leader had earlier appeared before the court for the hearing of an appeal against her conviction and that of her father and husband in the Avenfield reference.

“He [Sharif] is eager to return home but I'm insisting that he stays there until his treatment is completed,” she said, adding that nobody wanted to live outside of their country in an old age.

She hit out at the government for “inflicting colossal losses” to the country in less than two years of its five-year constitutional term.

She noted that PM Imran had described her father's departure from the country as a setback to his party's accountability narrative.

“Then he [Imran] claimed that the granting of bail to someone was also weakening that narrative. I want to ask his government that today when [Lt Gen (retd)] Asim Saleem Bajwa has been accused [of corruption] with evidence, where is that narrative now?” she asked.

“Has that accountability narrative gone to sleep? Doesn't it face a challenge today?”

The PML-N leader maintained that Sharif, who had remained the prime minister of this country thrice, bowed before the courts and faced jail despite facing false charges.

Similarly, she added, Justice Qazi Faez Isa was also facing allegations and responding to them legally even though he was a sitting Supreme Court judge.

Maryam said if she could spend time in jail, once for six months and then for five months in a death cell, even though she held no public office, if her father could face the law and serve time in prison to the point where he was on the verge of death, then everyone should be equal before the law regardless of whether it was Sharif, herself, Shehbaz Sharif, PM Imran, Asim Saleem Bajwa, Mir Shakilur Rehman, Qazi Faez Isa or Sarina Isa.

“Imran Khan should acknowledge that his distorted narrative of accountability has been exposed by the Arshad Malik [judge video scandal] case,” she added.

Maryam maintained that there was plenty of “evidence” against CPEC Authority Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, who was also a special assistant to the PM on information, and he should come forward and clarify his position before the nation.

“If you are holding a government position and drawing salary from taxpayers' money, you should not hesitate from facing the law if you are facing an allegation and evidence has been presented against you,” she added.

The PML-N leader claimed that her father Sharif spearheaded CPEC and brought an investment of $60 billion to Pakistan. “When nothing happened to CPEC project when its founder [Sharif] was ousted because of a single iqama, it won't be affected by the removal or addition of a single person.”

On the dismissal of Judge Arshad Malik, Maryam said the judge's confession was a blot on the face of justice. “Some elements tried to clear that blot. Let's go ahead and also suspend the decisions against Nawaz Sharif that came out from all this.”

Accountability court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik had given the verdicts on the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship references. However, he was later sacked following a video scandal which showed him confessing that he had been blackmailed into convicting Sharif.

To a query, Maryam said her party would participate in the opposition's all-parties conference. “This will make it clear whether everyone [in the opposition] is on the same page or not,” she added.

“I don't think Nawaz Sharif would ask any party leader not to attend the conference. It is time for all opposition parties to be stand united.”

A day earlier, Federal Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz in a tweet wrote that he had spoken with Asim Bajwa about the allegations against him. “He [Asim Bajwa] will clarify the matter in a few days,” he added.

میری عاصم باجوہ صاحب سے ابھی بات ھوئی ھے ۔ وھ تفصیل سے چند دنوں میں اپنے اثاثوں کے متعلق خبروں کی وضاحت کریں گے

— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) August 31, 2020