Govt demanding ransom from Sharif family in name of indemnity bond: Shehbaz
Govt demanding ransom from Sharif family in name of indemnity bond: Shehbaz
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday has said that the game of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and his political team against ex-PM Nawaz Sharif is condemnable.
While addressing a press conference after consultation meeting of senior party leaders in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif said that the incumbent government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wants to take ransom from Sharif family in the name of indemnity bond.
Indemnity bond is being demanded from the person who was elected Pakistan’s PM for three times, he went on to say.
The younger Sharif asked the government whether Nawaz had submitted any indemnity or surety bonds when he had voluntarily returned to the country from London in July 2018 after he was sentenced to serve prison time by a trial court in the Avenfield reference.
"And today when two high courts have granted him bail and said that he can avail treatment in Pakistan or abroad, the government is doing politics on the issue.
"Renowned lawyers of the country have criticised the [government] decision," Shehbaz said.
The ‘selected’ prime minister (Imran Khan) is befooling the nation with his speeches. PTI government has destroyed the economy and reputation of the country, he added.
Shehbaz Sharif asserted Imran Khan can neither give National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to anyone nor he can take it. Government is adopting cheap tactics by intentionally politicizing Nawaz Sharif matter, he stated.
Shehbaz further urged that it was high time we stopped doing politics on Nawaz’s health. “I did not think there would be such bitter politics done on someone’s health.”
“It is not just me who think politics is being done on Nawaz’s health. Even a minister from Karachi accepted that politics was being done on his health,” he said.
“When Imran Khan was injured, Nawaz Sharif himself went to the hospital to inquire about his health. The government doctors themselves have said that Nawaz’s treatment was not possible in Pakistan, but despite that a humanitarian issue was being made into a political one,” he said.
He questioned did Nawaz Sharif submit an indemnity bond when he was imprisoned with daughter Maryam in Adiala Jail. Shehbaz further noted that it is not less than a miracle that no internal bleeding happened despite such low platelets in Nawaz Sharif.
He said government is delaying the matter of removal of Nawaz’name from ECL, adding that who removed Zulfi Bukhari from ECL within an hour.
LHC to hear PML-N application shortly for removal of Nawaz Sharif s name from ECL
On the other hand, The Lahore High Court (LHC) has fixed for hearing an application, filed by the PML-N, for the removal of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) without any conditionality ‘imposed’ by the federal government.
PML-N’s legal team prepared an application pleading with the court to order removal of Sharif’s name from the ECL without any conditionality, including submission of surety bonds and only one-time stay abroad for four weeks on medical grounds.
The application maintained that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been granted bail on medical grounds; however the interior ministry has not removed Sharif’s name from the no-fly list.
It further recalled that Sharif, despite of being convicted, left his ailing wife [in the UK] and returned back to Pakistan with his daughter.
PML-N rejects govt s decision regarding Nawaz s treatment abroad
PML-N had expressed resentment over the federal cabinet subcommittee’s decision that allowed Sharif to go abroad for four weeks on one-time condition after submitting Rs7 billion as indemnity bond.
The party stated that how could someone guarantee that Sharif’s health would recover within four weeks. Terming the subcommittee’s indemnity bond condition as unlawful, the PML-N said that the surety bonds have already been deposited in the courts. “Decision of the cabinet’s subcommittee is beyond comprehension,” the party said.
