Nawaz Sharif, Maryam appeals to be filed on Monday

The lawyers of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam will file appeal against the Accountability Court order convicting them in the Avenfield Corruption case. Sharif's lawyers on Saturday were in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where the two have been lodged, to get the legal papers signed by Sharif and Maryam.

Since there was no time to reach court on Saturday, the appeal will now be filed in the court on Monday, the last day for filing appeal against the order that was delivered on July 6 by the Islamabad Accountability Court.

Sharif was awarded ten years in jail while his daughter got eight years of imprisonment along with others ahead of the general elections in Pakistan on July 25. Sharifs have been accused of failing to disclose the source of income for purchase of luxury apartments in London.
Sharif and his daughter have been lodged in Adilia jail. Media reports from Pakistan claimed that Sharif, a heart patient, was denied access to his personal doctor. According to media reports, Sharif and Maryam were given `B' Class facilities in the Adiala Jail with airconditioners, televisions, etc.

According to Samaa TV, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and a Pakistan police took Sharif and Maryam first to Sihala Police Training College Rest House in Islamabad before shifting him to Adiala jail later. The Sihala Rest House was declared a sub-jail through a notification and Judge Muhammad Bashir of the accountability court and head of NAB prosecution team Sardar Muzaffar had reached the judicial complex.

While on his way back to Lahore from Abu Dhabi, Sharif during a conversation with a co-passenger said Pakistan has been into a battlefield and there was a question mark on the credibility of the ensuing elections. "Do you think we are going to worry about NAB now?" he said while adding that he is going to take this fight to its last level till democracy is restored in the country. According to Pakistani newspaper The News, Sharif had termed the conviction as "blind revenge," and an attempt to keep him away from the political process of Pakistan.

"I was imprisoned at Attock Fort during (Pervez) Musharraf's reign. The incarceration during which I could not even see outside of the window of my cell after it was covered with black paper. I was subjected to torture and humiliation for several months," Sharif told The News while adding that the situation today was not different than that of Musharraf era.

About his present case he told the newspaper: "This was neither a case nor there is a verdict. This is a game of blind revenge, which is continuing. There is no case against me, there never was. The whole Panama case was started to fix politics and to take me out because I wanted a stronger democracy."

(ANI)