Shahbaz Sharif is the younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on three occasions
Lahore:
Pakistani opposition leader and PML-N chairman Shahbaz Sharif was arrested on Monday by the country’s anti-corruption body after a court rejected his bail request in a money laundering case silver.
The development comes just ahead of protests planned next month by his party – the Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Shahbaz, the leader of the opposition and the younger brother of three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was arrested at the premises of the Lahore High Court, where large numbers of PML-N workers gathered before the hearing in the Rs 700 crore (41.9 million USD) money laundering case.
The anti-transplant organization – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – took him to his detention center in Lahore and will take him to the tribunal of responsibility for his pre-trial detention.
Previously, a two-member LHC bench led by Sardar Ahemd Naeem rejected his bail after hearing arguments from the NAB team and Shahbaz’s lawyer.
Imran Khan’s government last week filed a money laundering case against Shahbaz, 69, who served as chief minister of Punjab province from 2008 to 2018, and his family.
The Prime Minister’s Home and Accountability Advisor Shahzad Akbar said last week that Shahbaz and his sons – Hamza and Salman – were involved in laundering money through fake accounts.
Akbar said the financial monitoring unit detected 177 suspicious transactions from Shahbaz’s family, after which the NAB launched an investigation.
He alleged that rupee crores were laundered through employees of companies owned by Shahbaz and his children.
Akbar accused Shahbaz and Hamza of taking bribes and commissions in exchange for party tickets and projects to favorites.
Before his arrest, Shahbaz told the media that Prime Minister Khan wanted him arrested.
“It was the unholy alliance of Imran Khan and the NAB that wanted to put me behind bars,” Shahbaz said.
Reacting to his arrest, PML-N spokeswoman Maryam Nawaz said Shahbaz was arrested only because he had not left his older brother.
Alleging it was political victimization by the government, she said: “This policy of revenge cannot temper the minds of our workers.”
Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned Shehbaz’s arrest, saying Prime Minister Khan was worried after opposition parties launched an alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, to oust his government.
The opposition predicted a strong government response following Nawaz Sharif’s attack on the military at the multi-party conference more than a week ago.
While addressing the conference via a video link from London, Sharif spoke about the military’s involvement in politics, saying that in the country “there is a state above the state”.
The mighty army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70-plus years of existence, has so far wielded considerable power in security and foreign policy.
Mr Khan said the opposition’s joint struggle is not against Khan but against those who imposed an “ineffective” man on the nation through rigged elections in 2018. “
Sharif, his daughter and party vice president Maryam and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar were convicted in the Avenfield properties case on July 6, 2018.
Sharif, who was deposed in 2017, was also sentenced to seven years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case in December 2018. But, he was bailed out in both cases and was also allowed to travel to London for medical care. He had eight weeks to return but was unable to return due to health complications.
The opposition is planning new arrests. The NAB has already issued a notice of appeal to JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also leading the opposition’s joint campaign against the government in the case of income beyond means.
The main Pakistani opposition parties have demanded the “immediate” resignation of Prime Minister Khan and planned protests across the country next month to overthrow his government.
