Big relief for Nawaz Sharif as Pakistan court restores appeals against conviction in graft cases

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against his conviction in two high-profile corruption cases were upheld by a top court in this city on Thursday. This is a significant relief for the former prime minister, who hopes to erase his record so he may run in the general elections that are scheduled for January. Following a nearly four-year self-exile, Sharif returned to Pakistan on October 21 and made his second appearance before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) with his younger brother and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif. The ruling, which was reserved earlier today, was pronounced by a two-member division bench made up of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq. The 73-year-old former prime minister’s bids for protective bail in the Al-Aziza steel factory and Avenfield corruption cases, as well as for the restoration of his appeals against his conviction, were heard by the bench before the verdict was rendered. “Congratulations to all of Pakistan on the restoration of justice,” his party said in a post on X, celebrating the restoration of appeals. A large number of his supporters gathered outside the court building and raised slogans in his favour. Prior to his appearance before the court on October 24 to surrender and submit pleas for the revival of his appeals in both instances, Sharif was given protective bail. Following the first hearing, the court postponed the hearing to today and sent notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). While Sharif’s attorney argued for the reinstatement of appeals, the NAB prosecutor told the court that the anti-corruption agency was not interested in Sharif’s arrest. Additionally, NAB declined to challenge Sharif’s attorneys’ plea. Following the completion of the arguments, the court reserved its decision, which it subsequently made public. The seven-year term Sharif was given in the Al-Azizia corruption case was suspended on Tuesday by the Punjab province’s interim government in Pakistan. In December 2018, Sharif was found guilty in the corruption case involving Al-Azizia Steel Mills and given a seven-year prison sentence. When the judge delivered the verdict in the Al-Azizia case, he had stated that there was hard evidence against him and that he could not provide the trail of the funds his family had used to establish the Al-Azizia steel mills in Saudi Arabia in 2001, as well as the Hill Metal Establishment that was later established in the same Gulf Kingdom. In the Avenfield Properties case, he was found guilty in July 2018 by an accountability court and given a 10-year prison sentence. After being detained and granted bail, he was released from custody while he filed an appeal against his acquittal in the case were pending. Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz was also sentenced to seven years in jail in the Avenfield case but was acquitted in September 2022 along with her husband Muhammad Safdar. He has consistently refuted accusations of any misconduct and said that the strong establishment, along with the judiciary, staged his conviction. In December 2020, the IHC proclaimed him a proclaimed offender in both cases. In order to lead his party in the general elections that are anticipated to take place in January 2024, Sharif, who was disqualified in 2017 and found guilty in both incidents of corruption later in 2018, wants to clear his record. However, the Pakistani Election Commission (ECP) has not released a precise date. The Pakistan People’s Party has claimed that the ECP will announce the vote date as soon as Sharif is declared not guilty by the courts in every case he is involved in. Sharif has been dubbed the “new ladla” (favourite) of the military establishment by the PPP and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which is imprisoned former prime leader. According to Khans’ party, Sharif’s four-year exile was ended by the military establishment’s approval, which guaranteed him a position as the country’s next prime minister. The only person from Pakistan to have held the position of prime minister three times in the history of the coup-prone nation is Sharif. (With agency inputs)