New Delhi: As the countdown for Nawaz Sharif's return began, Pakistan's Information Minister Durrani warned that martial law could be imposed and that a decision could be taken soon.
In Lahore, the anti-terrorist court issued arrest warrants for Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif.
The warrants relate to a murder case pending in the court for the last four years. As for Nawaz Sharif the National Accountability Bureau is already hearing a corruption case against him.
There are reports that the jail in Attock Fort near Islamabad is being readied for the two brothers. As the temperatures rise in Islamabad the MMA said it is fully behind Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif's party denounced the cases as politically motivated and claimed police had detained 1,300 of its workers to stop them from welcoming the brother’s home, ratcheting up political tension in the country.
Nawaz Sharif was toppled by President General Pervez Musharraf in a 1999 coup and then sent into exile in Saudi Arabia. He has said he will come back on Monday to counter Musharraf's re-election bid and run for parliament, despite the threat of arrest.
An anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday ordered the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif, said Aftab Ahmed Bajwa, a lawyer for the plaintiff. Shahbaz is charged with ordering police to kill five men who were gunned down in Lahore in 1998. At the time of the killings, Shahbaz was the chief minister, or top executive, of Punjab province. Nawaz was Pakistan's prime minister.
On Wednesday, the father of one of the victims asked the court to arrest Shahbaz after hearing that he was due to return to Pakistan, Bajwa said. Shahbaz has denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi held a hearing in a case involving allegations that the Sharif family defaulted on a bank loan and owned property beyond their known sources of income, said Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, a prosecutor for the state National Accountability Bureau.
(With agency inputs)
Comments
0 comment