Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz Wednesday said the judge who sentenced her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has been removed but his judgment has not been quashed even after she produced evidence against him. “In light of the evidence, Mian sahab’s sentence should be struck down,” Maryam told a press conference here. “I request the superior courts to do justice. Case against Nawaz Sharif should be declared null and void,” she added.

The PML-N leader was referring to a video produced by her at a press conference wherein the judge, who had sentenced Nawaz to jail, could be purportedly heard saying that he ruled against the former prime minister under duress. The judge has since been removed from the post and made an OSD [officer on special duty].

“A re-trial is unacceptable to me,” the PML-N leader said. “What guarantee is there that those who blackmailed Arshad Malik wouldn’t again blackmail the judge in the re-trial?” she asked, and claimed that the video she released in her July 6 press conference is ‘authentic’. Speaking about the accountability judge, she said he should be put on trial after his video was brought forward by her party. “I have more videos and proofs regarding the case,” she said, adding that she doesn’t want to pick fights with any institution, but only to see her father come out of the jail. “My purpose is not to malign anyone; I want to show that Mian Nawaz Sharif is innocent and that’s my sole purpose,” she said. “For every question that the judge has raised in his affidavit, I have a response and rest assured I have counter-evidence,” she said. “Neither I nor Nawaz Sharif watched the video that was used to blackmail the judge, but both of us promised to Allah that we won’t use that video against the judge,” she added.

Maryam said that she didn’t know about the video until Nasir Butt gave it to her. “I didn’t record the video and I didn’t know about it until Nasir sahab gave it to me,” she said. “Everybody knows that the video is authentic. The forensics lab set up in Lahore could ascertain the authenticity of the video,” she added.

Speaking about the backlash she’s facing after releasing the video, she said the Supreme Court should take suo motu notice of the leaked video. “I would reiterate that I do not want to make the remaining videos public. I am not like Imran Khan who tarnishes the name of institutions to hide his incompetence,” she said.

Maryam criticised the government for registering cases against people for participating in a PML-N rally. “Imran Khan fears the public and that’s why 6,000 cases have been registered against the people of Mandi Bahauddin. That is unheard of in the history of Pakistan,” she said. “Due to pressure on the media, their voices are being curbed down and that is an unfair act on the part of the government,” she added.

She said the government is afraid of PML-N exposing ‘hidden facts’ which is the reason for curbs on media. “It’s not just the responsibility of politicians to bring forward the truth. Media needs to play their part as well,” she said. She said the PML-N is not threatened by the government. “They will get tired of arresting party leader, but the party won’t end,” she said.

Speaking about her father’s health, she said Nawaz Sharif was not being given proper medical aid and treatment in jail. “He is not allowed to have food from home and neither the temperature of the prison cell is being maintained,” she said, adding that her father is being ‘held captive in the hands of his enemies who are toying with his life’. She said according to her father’s medical reports showed to her by a jail doctor during her weekly visit, his blood sugar is consistently on the high side and that he should be admitted to a ‘hospital of his choice’. She said she would approach courts over the treatment being meted out to her father.

Maryam said Prime Minister Imran Khan on his visit to the United States has demonstrated his ‘pettiness’ by constant reference to opposition instead of speaking about national and international issues. “Instead of talking about national and international issues in the US, there were threats being issued that ‘I will put a stop to his food, I will take away his airconditioning’,” she added.