Daily Times

As former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz along with her husband Captain (r) Safdar reached home after release from Adiala Jail on Wednesday, a police check post was set up outside their residence in Jati Umra.

A heavy contingent of police has been posted on the checkpoint and the commoners were prohibited from entering the area.

Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar were released from Adiala Jail in pursuance of the Islamabad High Court order.

A large number of party supporters and leaders reached Rawalpindi from where the central leadership of their party was released after legal formalities.

The former prime minister, his daughter and son-in-law were accorded a similar welcome when they arrived in Lahore.

Party workers showered rose petals on their caravan from airport to their residence, distributed sweets and raised slogans in their favour.

Earlier, the IHC suspended the prison sentences handed to Sharif, Maryam and Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption reference.

An IHC division bench, while hearing the appeals against the July 6 accountability court verdict, accepted their petitions, ruling that the sentences would remain suspended until the final judgment on their appeals against the Avenfield reference verdict.

An accountability court on July 6, had handed Nawaz Sharif 10 years jail term for owning assets beyond income and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureua (NAB) in the Avenfield properties corruption reference filed by NAB.

Maryam was given seven years in prison and Safdar was given one year for non-cooperation with the anti-graft authority.

Published in Daily Times, September 21^st 2018.