Daily Times

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that no one else but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has the mandate to conduct elections.

Speaking to the media in London, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo exhorted the commission to oversee all arrangements for the forthcoming elections, adding that they would not accept any institution’s interference in elections.

“Our patience should not be tested any further,” he warned.

He said that it had become crystal clear which party was getting the better end of the deal.

“If any action is being taken then it is being taken against the PML-N, he complained, and alleged that his party’s members were made to re-align with Imran Khan’s party.

“PML-N and the nation will not accept these things in any case,” Nawaz cleared.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry on Tuesday placed Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz’s name on Exit Control List (ECL).

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had requested Interior Ministry to include Nawaz and Maryam’s names on ECL. In her reaction, Maryam Nawaz termed the move a list ditch effort to bar them from returning home.

“No matter how much you try to cover it, people know the reality,” Maryam said while talking to reporters in London.

“This is not the 1970s or 80s; the more you try to cover up the more you will be exposed,” the PML-N leader added.

She continued: “We are not deterred; these circumstances had strengthened our resolve.” Also, the ministry on Tuesday sent the arrest warrants for Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, sons of former premier Nawaz Sharif, to the Interpol, sources said.

The development came after an accountability court issued arrest warrants for the two in the Avenfield reference.

Hassan and Hussain Nawaz were formally declared proclaimed offender after issuance of the warrants.

Nawaz, who is in London to tend to his ailing wife, is expected to return to country on July 13.

Earlier in the week, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an accountability court in Avenfield properties reference against the Sharif family. He was also imposed a fine of £2 million.

His daughter was sentenced to eight years with a £2 million fine (Rs335 million), while her husband Captain (r) Safdar Nawaz was handed one-year jail term.

He had been arrested by the anti-graft body.

Published in Daily Times, July 11^th 2018.