Nawaz Sharif's grandsons arrested briefly following altercation with PTI workers in London, released later

Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz’s son Junaid and her brother Hussain Nawaz’s son Zakaria were taken into custody and later released in London following an altercation with supporters of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf. The altercation took place outside their apartment in Avenfield House, a luxury residential property in London which has been at the centre of a corruption case in Pakistan involving Maryam and her father and PML-N’s lifetime leader Nawaz Sharif. Maryam left London on Thursday to serve a seven-year jail sentence in the Avenfield corruption case along with her father Nawaz Sharif (who has been sentenced to 10 years in jail). In a tweet on Friday, Maryam accused the PTI workers stationed outside her house of provoking Junaid. She tweeted:

PTI workers stationed outside London flat shouted ‘son of a bitch’ every time they saw Junaid. Anyone would have reacted. https://t.co/Zml91wGKmU

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 12, 2018

According to Dawn, “protesters had gathered outside the Avenfield residence where a man is believed to have hurled abuses towards Junaid and his cousin Zakaria, prompting them to lose their cool and proceed to grab the man by the collar and punch him”. Farid Qureshi, a correspondent with Paksitan-based ARY News shared a video of the scuffle (Firstpost was unable to verify its authenticity):

“The protesters gathered outside Avenfield House spat at me and tried to attack me,” Safdar was quoted as saying, while police was taking him away. According to a report in The News International, Junaid was handcuffed and shifted to Charing Cross Police Station for questioning. “He also said that protesters spat on him and tried to attack him outside their residence,” the report quoted said. The arrest came shortly after Nawaz and Maryam left for the airport to return to Pakistan, the report added.