Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who have been convicted in the Avenfield Apartments case and sentenced to 10 and 7 years in jail respectively, would be arrested upon their arrival in Lahore and transported to jail via a helicopter.
Ahead of the arrival of its supreme leader Sharif, over 300 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and leaders have been detained by the police in a massive crackdown on the party activists in Lahore.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who were convicted by a Pakistani court in the Avenfield Apartments case and sentenced to 10 and 7 years in jail respectively, boarded a flight on Thursday and will arrive in Lahore via Abu Dhabi at 6.15 pm (local time) on Friday.
The anti-graft body - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) - chairman Javed Iqbal has ordered taking all necessary measures to arrest Sharif and Maryam upon their arrival at the airport.
He has also formed a 16-member team to arrest them and shift them to Adiala Jail Rawalpindi after producing them at the accountability court that sentenced the father-daughter duo last week.
Ahead of Sharif's arrival, media gagged in Pakistan
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s media regulator has ordered TV news channels not to live telecast the homecoming rally of Sharifs and briefing of political leaders containing "defamatory and derogatory content".
The country’s state television PTV was barred from telecasting Sharif’s political activities, saying that no convicted person should be shown or talked about on any PTV channels.
“Please note that no convicted person is to be shown or talked about on any PTV channel/programme, whether in paid advertisements, news or current affairs talk shows,” the official order issued by the PTV news controller read.
Also Read | Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: Pakistan to file counter-memorial in ICJ on July 17
Earlier on Thursday, Sharif had said that he will return to Pakistan regardless of whether he was “taken to prison or gallows”.
“I am returning to fulfill the promise of giving respect to vote,” Sharif had said adding he was leaving his ailing wife in the “protection of Allah”.
His daughter Maryam, before leaving London said that it was a tough decision to return to the country, leaving her mother on the ventilator.
"To go to prison the most difficult decision of our lives because my mother is on the ventilator and we don't know what happens next, their is no pain like that of leaving your mother behind in such situation but there's a national duty and we must make this important journey," she had said.
(With PTI Inputs)
/newsnation-english/media/agency_attachments/2024-07-23t155806234z-logo-webp.webp){kind=logo}
Follow Us/newsnation-english/media/post_attachments/images/2018/07/13/507065770-NawazSharif.jpg)