Legal process starts
RECORDER REPORT
LAHORE: The interim government is starting the legal process Sunday to implement the decision of the Accountability Court announced on Friday against ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz presently in London. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team arrested on Sunday Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) in Rawalpindi who was awarded one years imprisonment in the Avenfield properties reference case.
Talking to a private news channel, the Federal Interim Law Minister Barrister Ali Zafar said the caretaker government would also implement the court's orders regarding confiscation of property of the convicts. Nawaz and Maryam were sentenced to 11 and eight years in prison and slapped £8-million and £2-million fines, respectively along with confiscation of their properties in London. Sharif has the right to file an appeal against the court decision.
Barrister Ali Zafar said Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz would be brought back to Pakistan with the help of the British government. However, he said Pakistan does not have extradition treaty with Britain.
Replying to a question, the Information Minister said "NAB is a constitutional body and we cannot interfere in its affairs."
Meanwhile Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif has said his brother and former premier Nawaz Sharif is leaving behind his wife, who is fighting for her life, to return to Pakistan.
A high-level meeting presided over by Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday decided that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, should land in Lahore upon return to Pakistan.
Shahbaz chaired a high-level party huddle in Model Town to finalize a future course of action in light of the party Quaid's return to the country, expected next week, sources said.
The meeting discussed whether Nawaz and Maryam should land in Islamabad or Lahore and concluded that they should n land at the provincial capital, sources said.
The meeting chaired by Shahbaz was attended by top party leaders, including former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq, former railways minister Saad Rafique, former interior and development minister Ahsan Iqbal and Shahbaz's son Hamza Shahbaz, sources said.
According to sources, the PML-N president decided to direct the party's ticket holders to lead groups of supporters to welcome the party Quaid when he returns to the country.
In case party supporters are restrained by the caretaker government from proceeding to the airport to welcome their leader, sources said an alternative plan of action will also be finalized.
It is learnt that NAB authorities have also made arrangements to arrest the convicted Nawaz Sharif and his daughter whenever they land at any airport of Pakistan and send them to jail if they were not granted bail by the relevant courts.
