Pakistan: PML-N ‘completely destroyed’ legal system, says Imran Khan's party on Nawaz's return

The PML-N has “completely destroyed” the legal system by facilitating the return of its supremo Nawaz Sharif, a “convicted criminal”, back to the country, Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said on Saturday. The 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo flew in from Dubai to Islamabad on the chartered flight “Umeed-e-Pakistan” along with some family members, senior party leaders and friends. Sharif is expected to address a massive homecoming rally in Lahore later Saturday and his return comes as Pakistan experiences deepening political turmoil and one of its worst economic crises. “A convicted criminal being facilitated in everything! Pakistan’s legal system has been completely destroyed by PMLN!” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) posted on X. Sharif, a three-time premier, was accorded a warm welcome on his return to Pakistan by party workers and supporters. His brother and ex-prime minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo was coming back to unite and put Pakistan back on track. “My leader Nawaz Sharif will be among you today, InshaAllah. He is coming back to unite this nation, not to divide it further. He is coming back to spread love among his people, not hatred,” Shehbaz posted on X. “He is coming back to help you become a productive citizen, not ammunition for any party or group. He is coming back to put Pakistan back on track,” he said. Addressing the media at Dubai Airport, Sharif said: “I’m going back to Pakistan after four years today. When I was leaving Pakistan and going abroad I had no feeling of happiness but today I am happy.” Sharif left for London in Nove­m­ber 2019 on medical grounds after a higher court granted him bail for four weeks. By that time, he had served half of his seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia corruption case. During the four years since then, he was declared a proclaimed offender in Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases for his continuous absence from the proceedings on appeals against the sentences. The Islamabad High Court on Thursday granted him protective bail until October 24 in both cases after NAB did not oppose the petitions filed by him. There has been a talk among political circles that he is returning to the country at the “right time” as his arch-rival PTI Chairman Khan is in jail and there has been a “perfect equation” of PML-N with the establishment. Against this backdrop, the PTI has called the PML-N supremo “the new blue-eyed boy of the system”, the Dawn newspaper reported. “The one who was calling someone else [Imran Khan] ladla has now become ladla,” PTI leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi has said. “Nawaz Sharif, a proclaimed offender and a convict, has got permission to roam around in the country … but let me tell you that neither offering motorbikes nor a paradise pass will help them as the people have rejected him and his party,” Elahi said. Sharif was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in a corruption case involving purchases of luxury apartments in London. His party became hugely unpopular after Imran Khan’s removal when Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shehbaz Sharif replaced Khan.

With inputs from agencies.