Shahbaz Sharif is the youthful brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif
Lahore:
Pakistan’s Chief of the Opposition and PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif was on Tuesday despatched on a 14-day bodily remand by an accountability court docket in belongings past means and cash laundering case, a day after he was arrested by the Nationwide Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Lahore.
Shahbaz, the youthful brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was taken into custody from the Lahore Excessive Courtroom’s premises on Monday after the court docket rejected his bail software within the Rs 700 crores (USD 41.9 million) cash laundering case.
The 69-year-old former chief minister of Punjab province was produced earlier than the accountability court docket Decide Jawad-ul-Hasan on Tuesday.
Shahbaz requested the court docket to permit him to current arguments in his defence as an alternative of his lawyer. The court docket allowed him.
He denied any wrongdoing and mentioned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s nexus with the NAB has made mockery of accountability within the nation and they’re concentrating on the opposition leaders solely.
“Cash laundering expenses towards me are baseless. I don’t do enterprise. My mother and father had labored onerous to ascertain enterprise within the nation and transferred the identical to my youngsters,” he mentioned.
He mentioned being the chief minister of Punjab province his choices triggered a lack of tens of millions of rupees to the companies of his elder brother Nawaz and his (Shahbaz) son Hamza with the intention to profit the general public.
Following the arguments, the choose accepted NAB”s request for a 14-day bodily remand of Shahbaz and ordered for him to be introduced within the court docket once more on October 13.
The court docket directed that Shahbaz’s efficiency report be made a part of this case.
Shahbaz’s arrest comes simply forward of the deliberate protests subsequent month by his occasion – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Khan.
The Imran Khan authorities final week filed the cash laundering case towards Shahbaz, who served as chief minister of Punjab province from 2008 to 2018, and his household.
The anti-graft physique has claimed that the belongings of Shahbaz’s household ballooned from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 700 crores within the final 30 years, which they’ve didn’t justify.
Nawaz, who has been in London since November 2019 after securing bail on medical grounds in Al-Azizia Mills corruption case during which he was sentenced for seven years, strongly reacted to his brother’s arrest.
In a tweet, Nawaz mentioned, “this puppet authorities has endorsed the decision adopted by the opposition’s [multi-party conference].
“Shahbaz Sharif had already mentioned all the [MPC’s] choices could be carried out whether or not he’s in jail or outdoors. Nobody ought to be mistaken that such disgraceful techniques will make us bow down.”
“Shahbaz’s arrest is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The Imran Khan regime has damaged all data of injustice however we won’t be cowed into submission by such techniques,” he mentioned.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz strongly criticised the arrest of her uncle and occasion president Shahbaz, saying he was being “punished” for standing by his brother Sharif’s aspect.
“Make no mistake. Shahbaz Sharif has been arrested ONLY as a result of he REFUSED to play within the palms of those that needed to make use of him towards his brother (Nawaz Sharif). He most well-liked standing behind jail bars than to face towards his brother. Shahbaz Sharif, aap ko SALAM (sic),” she tweeted.
Pakistan Individuals’s Social gathering Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari additionally condemned Shahbaz’s arrest, saying Prime Minister Khan was frightened after the opposition events launched an alliance, Pakistan Democratic Motion, to oust his authorities.
The Opposition was anticipating sturdy response from the federal government following Sharif’s assault on the army within the multi-party convention over every week in the past.
Sharif whereas addressing the convention by way of video hyperlink from London talked concerning the Military’s involvement in politics, saying within the nation “there’s a state above the state.”
The highly effective Military, which has dominated Pakistan for greater than half of its 70 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded appreciable energy within the issues of safety and international coverage.
The Opposition is anticipating extra arrests. The NAB has already issued a name up discover to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who can also be main the joint opposition’s marketing campaign towards the federal government in earnings past means case.
Pakistan’s main opposition events have demanded “rapid” resignation of Prime Minister Khan and deliberate countrywide protests subsequent month to oust his authorities.
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