By: KeerthiMohan
Pakistan’s ousted premier Nawaz Sharif today claimed that the infamous Adiala Jail was already being prepared for him and alleged that three members of the joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe his family’s business dealings abroad were his “worst political opponents”.
Sharif, 68, made the remarks after appearing before an accountability court in Islamabad in a corruption case concerning his family’s Avenfield properties, Dawn reported.
“House cleaning has already begun in Adiala Jail. Do they know in advance that somebody is coming?” Sharif asked.
The Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi is an infamous prison where Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi was kept.
Sharif and some of his family members are facing charges relating to their ownership of posh properties in London. He resigned as prime minister in July last after the Supreme Court disqualified him over undeclared income.
Three cases were registered by the NAB against Sharif, his children and son-in-law in the court on September 8.
The political future of Sharif has been hanging in the balance since his ouster. If convicted, he could be jailed.
His family alleges that the cases are politically motivated.
Talking to reporters today, Sharif
said the reality of the JIT’s investigative report is being revealed.
“You know that the facts that went in our favour were (deliberately) hidden by the JIT,” he alleged. “You already know what has come out of Wajid Zia’s mouth and, in a way, he has given us a certificate (of innocence),” he further claimed.
Though the Sharif family has kept up a narrative that Zia, the prosecution’s star witness and head of the JIT, has considerably weakened the case by failing to hold up to cross questioning, the PML-N’s opponents say the court’s proceedings have been misconstrued by the PML-N to present a distorted picture to give Sharif’s supporters false hopes, the paper said.
Sharif alleged that of the six members of the JIT, “three are our worse political opponents. They, or their wives or [other] family members are active members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party,” he claimed.
“My case was not a terrorism case. I was doing nothing against the interests of Pakistan.What was the need to include the ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) and Military Intelligence in the JIT?” he asked.
Earlier, Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris had completed his cross-examination of JIT head Zia in the Avenfield refence, ten days after he began examining the witness.
During the examination, Zia had said that the team did not maintain a daily diary of its proceedings as it had been ordered by the Supreme Court to submit a report every 15 days.
He also said it was incorrect to say that the JIT conducted the investigations against the Sharif family in a biased way or with a specific agenda in mind.
(PTI)
